Germany · 14th century
Herten Castle (German: Schloss Herten) is a moated castle situated in the town of Herten in the administrative district of Recklinghausen in the state of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany. It is located within an old English landscape garden and its first mentioning dates back to 1376. In 1962, the main castle building was declared a cultural heritage monument.
While foundations of today's main castle building incorporate elements from the 14th-century building, the buildings visible today were built in the 16th and 17th century by Coesfeld architect Henric de Suer and his son Johann. They were built for the families Stecke and Nesselrode. After the First World War, the main castle building was no longer used as a residence and started to deteriorate. Subsidence caused by the widespread sub-surface mining in the surrounding industrial Ruhr area added to the structural damage, bringing the castle buildings close to collapse. Only radical restoration measures taken by the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (German: Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe) from 1974 to 1989 saved the late Gothic castle complex from total decline.
Today it is used as a venue for concerts, cultural events and festivities. It also houses a café. The castle's park is popular for walking, picknicking, jogging and biking.
Text adapted from “Schloss Herten” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Schloss Herten ranks #3,391 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #276 of the 711 mapped in Germany. Founded c. 1301, it is older than 60% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,035 times in the last 60 days, more than 51% of the atlas. 11 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Essen, 18 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.
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