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Park and Villa Bergfried in Saalfeld
The Bergfried Villa approx. 13.8 km (approx. 19 minutes by car via B85) from Rudolstadt
Our hotel in Rudolstadt offers the perfect starting point for excursions to the surrounding towns and sights. A worthwhile destination is the Villa and Park Bergfried in Saalfeld, which provides an unforgettable day with its picturesque park landscape.
The park is not only a natural playground, but also a place full of stories. The Villa and Park Bergfried were built from 1924 to 1930 as an estate for the family of Ernst Hüther, then a chocolate manufacturer. After the family was expropriated, the site has been owned by the city of Saalfeld since 1998.
The property is situated on a hill from where you can see the surrounding town with the mountains and the Saale valley. Both parts impress with their size, because the park alone extends over 15 hectares of land. Moreover, it was planned by the most important garden architecture office of the time – the Ludwig Späth company. Today it is one of the most important cultural monuments of the 20s in Thuringia.
The entire complex is impressive with the villa (manor house) and the adjacent ornamental courtyard, a multi-row linden avenue to the pond house and a circular path in the style of the English landscape garden.
Moreover, in the park there is a rock garden, a water lily pond, a bear kennel, a Japanese garden and a bell tower. This tower has 25 bronze bells. You can hear them ringing every day at 12 and 18 o’clock. It is one of the oldest carillons in Germany.
Visitors interested in culture will also get their money’s worth: as soon as guided tours are possible again in the villa, you can learn about the history of Saalfeld and of Mr. Hüther and his family at that time.
Opening hours
The park is open from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., as is the exhibition in the gardener’s house. Currently there are no guided tours in the villa, as it is being renovated until spring 2025. For a few sneak peeks, we can recommend this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uvwedAsscI
Park plan of the Villa Bergfried estate
https://www.saalfeld.de/leben_in_saalfeld/kultur_freizeit/villa-bergfried/