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Fürsteneck Castle will receive a new building. A four-story building was designed next to the historic castle. Three floors will disappear into the slope, only the top one will be visible.
Eiterfeld – According to plans, there will be 24 single rooms on the two lower floors, and a large, light-flooded studio and an additional large seminar area on the upper two floors.
Academy director Hartmut Piekatz welcomed the State Secretary in the Hessian Ministry for Culture, Education and Opportunities, Manuel Lösel, to the groundbreaking ceremony. Representatives of the country were also present Hesseof the district Fulda and the municipality of Eiterfeld, the board of the sponsoring association as well as the Trapp-Wagner architectural firm and the specialist planners involved.
Fürsteneck Castle is investing eight million euros in expansion
“When I started my work in 2015, the board immediately came to me and told me that what I absolutely had to create was a new building for the castle,” Piekatz welcomed those present, “but to paraphrase Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: 'If you want to build a ship, don't gather the men together to collect wood, but rather teach them a longing for the sea.'”
The longing actually seems to have been awakened in Piekatz, the academy club and the employees. An application for funding will be submitted to the Hessian Ministry of Culture in spring 2022. This includes two construction areas, the studio building to replace the previous workshop building and a guest house to meet the increased need for single rooms. “We know that the house will be full. There are waiting lists in almost every area,” said Piekatz. The Hesse State Office for Construction and Real Estate calculated the investment requirement for the two buildings at 5.65 million euros.
An initial commitment from the Hessian Ministry of Culture will come at the beginning of 2023. The engineer and architect Harald Mathes from Fulda will take over the client support in September 2023. In 2024 there will be a Europe-wide tender for architectural offices. Five selected and anonymous models will be assessed by the building committee in July 2024. After the judging session concluded, the offices introduced themselves. Trapp-Wagner from Hünfeld was awarded the contract. “We are pleased that the planning took place here in the region,” said Piekatz.
The state of Hesse supports the expansion of the Burg Fürsteneck Academy
Presented in December 2025 Minister of State for Culture, Education and Opportunities Armin Schwarz personally received a state grant of more than 5.6 million euros for the new building project the Hessian adult education center Burg Fürsteneck. The sponsoring association is providing a further 2.4 million.
“There is no other adult education center in Hesse. But even if there were, Fürsteneck Castle would be the greatest among them,” said State Secretary Manuel Lösel at the ceremony on the western slope of the castle. “There is a great educational offering that is being put together here; in the digital, in politics and in democracy education, in the musical-artistic area and in media education,” said Lösel. Knowledge is imparted, but the Burg Fürsteneck Academy also always manages to awaken creativity. “In order to promote these framework conditions, Hesse is happy to provide the amount,” said Lösel.
“It was incredibly exciting for us planners to see the history,” said architect Stefan Wagner, “to see what the impulse for the new building was, what movements the project took.” Of course, the castle is also historical. “Right from the start, it was important to us to add a highlight to the castle without letting the new building compete with the existing facilities,” says Wagner.
Monument protection was also included. Nils Wetter from the State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse expressly welcomed the new building. The location on the slope west of the castle does not restrict the view. “On the contrary, the demolition of the current studio building is beneficial for the castle,” said Wetter.
The first construction machines arrived on April 7th. This is followed by construction site preparation and earth excavation. If everything goes according to plan, the new building will be filled with life and guests from the academy by the turn of the year 2027/28.
