Castle Gracht Bridge

A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace) [FAL]

Castle Gracht

This Cologne, Germany area moated castle was originally constructed around 1500 by Otto von Buschfeld.  The home was passed on to his granddaughter Catharina von Buschfeld and then to her grandson Baron Johan Adolph I.  In 1658 he expanded the house to a castle.  Descendents continued to expand and become the ancestral seat of the Wolff-Metternich family.

Schloss Gracht was a hospital and the building eventually fell to ruins.  Between 1851 and 1854 the building was updated and expanded by one floor with a four-story tower.  A two-story south wing with a three-story tower was added.  A section of the original building, from 1698 was incorporated in the neo-gothic style castle following a fire.

More recently the municipality of Liblar acquired the property in 1957.  It was resold in 1962.  The castle was bought-and-sold several times and in 1973 it was purchased by a group of Rhenish investors.  After 1976, and following an extensive renovation of the property the University Seminar of Economics located there.  In 2004 it became a part of the European School of Management & Technology.  It is currently a center for stress medicine.

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