Trausnitz Castle above the city of Landshut, Bavaria, Germany
Some background information:
Trausnitz Castle is a medieval castle situated atop a hill above the city of Landshut. With its more than 70,000 residents Landshut is the biggest city in the Bavarian district of Lower Bavaria. Both castle and town were founded in 1204 and are located about 50 km (31 miles) to the northeast of the city of Munich.
Trausnitz Castle is the ancestral seat of the Wittelsbach dynasty, who were Dukes and later Kings of Bavaria (between 1180 and 1918) and whose most famous member is King Ludwig II of Bavaria, the so-called "Swan King". Among others, the Wittelsbach family also provided Counts of Holland, Kings of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Hungary and Greece, Anti-Kings of Bohemia and two Holy Roman Emperors.
In 1204, Trausnitz Castle that was meant to guard over the new settlement and the surrounding lands was founded by Duke Ludwig I (also known as Ludwig of Kelheim). At that time it had the same name as the settlement, Landshut (in English: "Protection of the land"). It was completed in 1235, by the time of Emperor Frederick II’s visit. During the first half of the 13th century, Trausnitz represented the centre of imperial politics. In that period, it was visited by famous minstrel singers, including Walter von der Vogelweide and Tannhaeuser. The patronage of art by the Dukes of Bavaria was so high that they sent for a sculptor from Strasbourg who created jewellery for a sculpture that now stands in the castle's chapel.
The wealthy Wittelsbach Dukes repeatedly renovated and expanded the buildings of Trausnitz Castle during the 15th century. They also heightened the outer defensive ring of walls and extended them for the defensive towers. Duke Louis X of Bavaria furnished the castle in 1516 in the south German Renaissance style, though few examples remain today. Between 1568 and 1578, the arcades of the courtyard were created for Crown Prince William. Many paintings in the Florentine style were added, but most were lost due to fires over the years. Later, Prince Ferdinand Maria (1675 to 1679) undertook restoration of the burned paintings and decorated other rooms with other paintings.
Ultimately Trausnitz Castle could no longer meet the increasing representational requirements of the baroque rulers. In the first half of the 18th century, it was used as a barracks and a prison for noble prisoners and from 1762 it was used as a manufactory for woollen goods and silk. At the beginning of the 19th century the castle served as a hospital.
In 1869, King Ludwig II of Bavaria (who also was the creator of Neuschwanstein Castle in Fuessen) ordered the decoration of a new splendid private apartment in the second floor of the prince's wing. However, he never made use of it. In 1961, a fire broke out in the prince’s wing and spread rapidly. Falling chimneys pierced the arcades and injured two firemen, while another one died. The cause, as reported by the investigating committee, was an immersion heater for boiling water that had been left unattended by a maidservant. The fire destroyed much of the interior decoration, including King Ludwig II’s rooms.
Today the interior of the castle can be visited within a guided tour. Visitors can see the medieval parts of the building such as the impressive vaulted Old Knight's Hall and the castle chapel with its important sculptures as well as the winged altar-pieces of the rich dukes. Furthermore, the Renaissance is represented with vaulted cabinets, panelled rooms and the famous Fools' Staircase with its monumental scenes from the Italian Commedia dell'arte. The tour ends with a view of the city from the tower terrace.
The town of Landshut, founded in 1204, was already a Wittelsbach residence by 1231, and in 1255, when the duchy of Bavaria was split in two, Landshut also became the capital of Lower Bavaria. Duke Henry XVI was the first of the three famous rich dukes who ruled Bayern-Landshut in the 15th century. In 1475, the wedding of Duke George with the Polish Princess Jadwiga Jagiellon, the daughter of the then Polish king Casimir IV, was celebrated in Landshut with one of the most splendid festivals of the Middle Ages (in German: "Landshuter Hochzeit"). After his death and the Landshut War of Succession, Bavaria-Landshut was reunited with Bavaria-Munich.
Between 1537 and 1543, Ludwig X, Duke of Bavaria built a summer residence in the heart of the town after his visit to Italy. He commisioned the first Renaissance palace constructed north of the Alps after the Palazzo Te in Mantua. However, William V, Duke of Bavaria ordered to upgrade Trausnitz Castle from a gothic fortification into a Renaissance complex when he lived in Landshut as crown prince for ten years until 1579. Afterwards Landshut lost most of its importance until the University of Ingolstadt was moved to Landshut in 1800. But already in 1826 the university was again transferred to Munich.
In 1634, during the Thirty Years' War, the city was taken and plundered by Swedish forces under the command of Bernard of Saxe-Weimar. During World War II, a subcamp of Dachau concentration camp was located near the city to provide slave labour for local industry. Since the opening of Munich Airport close to Landshut in 1992, the town has become an attractive business location.
Every four years a huge festival is held in Landshut. At the Landshut Wedding (iresp. "Landshuter Hochzeit") which is one of the largest historical pageants in Europe, the wedding of Duke George with Jadwiga Jagiellon in 1475 is re-enacted. During the celebration everyone gets carried away with medieval jousting, pageantry, feasting and wedding processions for three weeks in the summer. More than 2,000 participants in medieval costumes bring the festival to life to recreate the Late Middle Ages, while more than 600,000 visitors enjoy the medieval atmosphere.
