Germany · Restored
Horst Palace
Horst Castle (Schloss Horst) is a 16th-century Renaissance four-winged, moated castle on an island in the marshy arms of the Emscher in Gelsenkirchen. Completed in 1578 after reconstruction by Rütger von der Horst, its red-brown brick wings, sandstone sculptural decoration and square corner towers exemplify the Lippe Renaissance. After damage and later restoration the complex now houses a museum, restaurant and event spaces.
First raised
1559
Its prime
1578
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1578
The shape it held in its prime.
A closed four-winged moated Renaissance castle set on an island in marshy arms of the Emscher, completed 1578. Red-brown brick wings rise two to three storeys beneath steep slate hipped and pyramidal roofs, linked around an inner courtyard; slightly projecting square corner towers are capped with Welsh-bonnet roofs. Facades are framed by mullioned rectangular windows and richly worked sandstone architectural sculpture, including a projecting multi-storey carved sandstone oriel and a stone arched gate approached by a bridge.
Its story
The story of Horst Palace.
The noble line of the Horst lords goes back to the 12th century, originating from what is now Essen; from around 1200 they were marshals of the Essen Abbey, with the privilege of capturing Emscherbruch horses. Feudatories of the Counts of Cleves from 1363, they long held their property's independence against the Archbishopric of Cologne, finally yielding in 1412 — Horst becoming a fief of the Electorate.
Rütger von der Horst rebuilt the castle as a Renaissance four-winged complex on its moated island in the Emscher, completed in 1578 — roughly 53 metres to a side with square pavilion towers at the corners, among the largest such complexes north of the Alps and a shaping influence on the Lippe Renaissance. Originally it was white-plastered, its stone dressings gilded and its courtyard columns painted to imitate marble.
Rütger's heiress daughter Margarethe carried the castle to the von Loë family by her marriage in 1582; in 1706 Baron Hermann Dietrich von der Recke sold Horst to Baron Ferdinand von Fürstenberg for roughly 100,000 Reichstaler. The von Fürstenbergs later tried to salvage the façade's sculptural "stone treasure" by storing the fragments. Declared a listed building in 1983, the restored complex now houses a museum, restaurant and event spaces.
Step inside
9 places to explore in 1578.
The record describes 9 distinct spots at Horst Palace — including 2 interiors: castle chapel (interior, nave and polygonal choir), crypt beneath the chapel choir (burial chambers). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Horst Palace with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1578 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Horst Palace.
The families that held Horst Palace for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
von der Horst
Lords of Horst from the 12th century; Rütger von der Horst completed the Renaissance castle in 1578, and his heiress carried it out of the family in 1582.
von Loë
Received the castle through Margarethe von der Horst's marriage to the von Loë family of Palsterkamp und Geist in 1582.
von der Recke
Held Horst until Baron Hermann Dietrich von der Recke sold the castle and estate in 1706.
von Fürstenberg
Baron Ferdinand von Fürstenberg bought Horst in 1706 for roughly 100,000 Reichstaler; the family later salvaged the façade's stone treasure.
