Schloss und Park Ettersburg

Since the establishment of the initial castle and park facilities in the early 18th century, Ettersburg has been a popular hunting and summer residence for the ducal family of Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach. Anna Amalia gathered a literary and musical circle around her here. The expansive landscaped park, with its garden facilities and the "Pückler-Schlag," is a gem of garden art.

On the north side of the Großer Ettersberg, Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar began construction of a hunting lodge in the early 18th century, which was completed by his nephew Ernst August. The estate served as a hunting and summer residence for the ducal family until their abdication in 1918, where they hosted famous guests, including Franz Liszt and Hans Christian Andersen.

The design of the romantic landscape garden is largely attributed to Carl Alexander, the great-grandson of Anna Amalia, who took over the castle in 1842. The young hereditary grand duke had the two castle parterres redesigned according to plans by Carl Eduard Petzold. Petzold also laid out the six-hectare landscape park to the west of the castle and the large forester´s meadow, which stretches east of the valley floor from the old castle to the forester´s house. In 1845, at the suggestion and under the guidance of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau, the extension of the castle avenue, a pathway of the old hunting star, was carried out to form the so-called "Pücklerschlag," a meadow area embellished with scenically staggered groups of trees on the slope opposite the castle.