European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Story and photos by Joseph Owen Stul Garl Bureau while rain has soaked the surrounding Countryside Lor most of the Winter a Renaissance Castle stands High enough in Germany s Hilly pc Start Region so that it stays locked in a delicate web of ice and Snow. Schloss mesh Colbrunn completed in 1569 and left undisturbed by the thirty years War is a moated masterpiece located on the outskirts of the Northwestern bavarian Village of mesh Lebrunn about 12 Miles Southeast of Aschaffenbur. It is the properly of Albrecht count Ingelheim and his wife the countess Ingelheim who reside there. It tame into my family when an Ingelheim married an Echter said the count referring to an event which occurred about 1660. The Castle has remained in the Ingelheim family Ever since he the Castle Interior is closed to the Public during the Winter but the absence of crowds and the frosty tones make a visit to the grounds worthwhile anyway. For those who would prefer warmer weather and a look at he rooms Schloss mesh Lebrunn reopens to the Public on Mach 15, or later if the weather is bad it closes in mid november. The Structure s origin dates to the 13th Century when the site was established to protect a Highway passing through the sparsely populated pc Start Hills. A document written during that period is among the items preserved in the Castle Library located in the domed Tower. The Knight Hamann Echter built the Tower a giant Stone sentry standing at the Edge of the courtyard Between 1419 and 1432. His descendant Knight Peter Echter built almost everything else in the 16th Century incorporating the Echter coat of arms into the Renaissance stonework. The Castle Interior features a cavernous red Sandstone knights Assembly Hall a gothic style Chapel with Wall paintings and an Alabaster altar a banquet Hall festooned with weaponry and antique european and Oriental China an ancestor s Hall lined with Echter portraits a chinese Salon and a bedroom where the most famous family member Julius Echter was born. A separate Echter room serves As a memorial to his accomplishments As Bishop of Wurzburg Ouck of Franconia and founder of Wurzburg University. The rooms contain most of their original furnishings. A network of hiking paths crisscross the Woods behind the Castle. Anybody setting out to Challenge them first encounters a Small shrine to or Insp von act Turnich of Austria built a statue in thanks for his Wile s surviving an Accident at the fits a. Mary Mother of Jesus. Perched on a Stream Bank behind the Castle it Marks the approximate location where another countess Ingelheim count incl him great brat great great grandmother and her Friend Princess von act Crnich the wife of austrian Chancellor Prince von Metternich escaped injury in a Carriage Accident in 1842. Ingelheim said the Princess and the countess were travelling to Schloss mesh Lebrunn where the countess lived. As the horses were pulling the Carriage toward the Castle from the cast a Cannon shot startled them and they ran Over the Stream Bank causing the Carriage to overturn. The women were uninjured however. The following year Prince von act Crnich and his children commissioned the statue As a gesture of gratitude to god for sparing the Princess life according to a Tablet affixed to the Pedestal. Tourists can reach Wasse Schloss mesh Colbrunn by leaving autobahn 3 Frankfurt Wurzburg at  and driving through Hespenthal and mesh Lebrunn. The Castle is a few Kilometres South of town on the left Side of the Road to him Buchenthal. When the Castle is open the admission charge is 3 Marks for adults and 1.50 Marks for children. February 20,1936 stripes Magazine