Silver Hall: Castle Fire @museum.de

It was the night of January the 24th 1963, and freezing cold. The thermometer showed minus 20 degrees Celsius when the east and north wings of the castle caught fire.

That was where the princely family had their living quarters.

A smouldering fire in one of the chimneys started the blaze. A beam caught fire, and the flames quickly spread through the historic fabric of the building to the roof truss, which was soon ablaze.

76 stoves were roaring away that night to keep the chill out of the old walls. The heat was also meant to prevent the water pipes from freezing. Although a central heating system had been installed and connected, it hadn’t yet been approved.

There wasn’t much the local fire-fighters could do – all the fire hydrants were frozen. It was only when the fire brigade arrived from Stuttgart, roughly 100 kilometres or over 60 miles away, that a properly organised fire-fighting operation could begin. But first, the fire-fighters had to saw through the sheet of ice on the Jagst River and pipe the water up the hill. It was so cold that the water froze inside the hoses.

Around 700 fire-fighters and many volunteers were deployed that night, and the fire-fighting operation lasted around nine hours. People climbed rickety ladders to rescue paintings, books and furniture from the blaze.

The fire destroyed the family's private apartments. Anything that couldn’t be saved from the blaze was consumed by the flames or became unusable due to heavy smoke damage. Although the fire didn’t spread to the south and west wings, where the castle museum had opened three years earlier, the furniture and paintings were covered in soot. Everything had to be painstakingly cleaned.

In the display case to the right of the entrance, you’ll find remnants from the night of the fire. The portrait above the case shows Prince Kraft, who was 27 that year.

The aerial view shows the extent of the destruction. The images of the reconstruction work record the immense effort that was made here. The funds for the rebuilding work were mostly provided by the Hohenlohe-Langenburg family.

Please leave the Silver Hall through the second door, which will take you to the Bretterner Gang – the Boarded Corridor on the right.