Castle Schloß Braunfels

You're standing at Braunfels Castle, high on a basalt hill above the spa town of Braunfels. The name, by the way, means brown rock. Take a look at all those towers, battlements and oriels. It looks like something from a fairy tale, and some people even call it the Neuschwanstein of Hesse. But it's a bit of a trick. Much of what you see dates from the nineteenth century. Around 1840, Prince Ferdinand turned the castle into an idealised knight's castle, the kind the real Middle Ages never had. From 1880, Prince George added even more turrets and oriels. The tallest tower, the new octagonal keep, was finished in 1884.