SAYN PALACE

In the 14th century, the lords of Reiffenberg, ministerials of the Counts of Sayn, built a medieval castle at the foot of the Sayn castle hill. In 1753, through marriage, it passed to the Barons Boos von Waldeck, who converted it into a baroque manor house. At the beginning of the 19th century, the property was expanded through the acquisition of the immediately neighboring estates and vineyards of the Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein.

When Prince Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn and his beautiful Russian wife, Princess Leonilla, returned from Russia to the family’s old homeland in 1848, he bought the property with all the associated properties from the then Koblenz district administrator, Count Clemens Boos von Waldeck. The princely couple had the baroque manor house, the core of which formed a late medieval house, redesigned and enlarged into a residence befitting their status. The architect Girard (1806-1872), who later became General Manager of the Louvre, was entrusted with the conversion. Girard chose the neo-gothic style, in line with the spirit of the times and the wishes of his clients. He managed to create a unified and harmonious work that exceeded the high expectations of his contemporaries.

A special feature was the use of architectural elements made of iron, artfully cast in the neighboring Sayner Hütte. In 1851, the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV said that he was “completely amazed, dazzled and delighted by the magic of Sayn”. His brother Wilhelm, later Emperor of the German Empire, wrote just as enthusiastically in the guest book in 1857: “Really, it is a true fairytale castle!”In 1945, shortly before the end of the war, the palace was severely damaged and fell into disrepair. With a renewed appreciation of the neo-gothic style, Sayn Palace was declared a monument of national importance.

From 1995 to 2000, a revitalization and restoration program funded by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate was carried out. Sayn Palace now shines in new splendor. Together with the medieval castle hill and the park, the neo-gothic residence of the Princes of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn forms the center of a romantic ideal landscape. Inside, the New Museum was set up in 2020, in which the visitor is familiarized with the history of a princely family that has left its mark in the most diverse European countries for over 1000 years. Two princesses play a special role here, each of whom lived and worked for more than 100 years: the beautiful Russian Princess Leonilla (1816-1918) returned with her family to their origins in Sayn, while Princess Marianne (born 1919) saw its destruction and reconstruction, documented masterfully in her photographs.

One floor up there are halls, salons and cabinets furnished with valuable paintings, furniture and artefacts,  particularly suitable for banquets and celebrations. The palace chapel with its famous Moritz von Schwind windows has been restored to its neo-gothic beauty. Today it is often used for weddings and baptisms.