3-011-503 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Fürstenlager, a seat of the Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, near Auerbach - from a sketch by our special artist, 1862. 'This Ducal palace, in which Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse spent about six weeks shortly after their marriage, is situated twelve miles from Darmstadt, near Auerbach, one of the prettiest villages on the Bergstrasse, Auerbach is sometimes resorted to as a watering-place, on account of a mineral spring in the neighbourhood. A gradual ascent leads past the brunnen to the ruins of the Castle of Auerberg (shown in our Engraving, at the back of the palace), one of the most picturesque in the Odenwald. It was dismantled by the French under Turenne, in 1674, and time is fast completing the work of destruction begun by man. The hill on which it stands is composed of granite and gneiss. An easy path conducts from these ruins to the Melibocus, depicted at the extreme right in the background...The Melibocus, or Malchen, is a conical hill of granite. It is the highest of the Odenwald chain of hills, and is conspicuous far and wide on account of the white tower on its top, erected in 1772, as a belvidere. The view from it is most extensive, owing to the vast expanse of fiat in the valley of the Rhine below'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.