Wahn Palace

The "Hoff zu Wande" was first documented in 1358 as a property of the von Revelen family. At that time it was a moated castle with a residential tower, gatehouse, moat and outer bailey. Ownership passed through the von Loë and von Zweiffel families; in 1588 the castle was destroyed and pillaged by a mercenary army. From 1685 the counts of Schall are recorded as owners – it was they who, in 1753, had the castle rebuilt into a stately late-Baroque palace. After a period in the hands of the Heereman von Zuydtwyck family, the palace passed in 1820 to the barons von Eltz-Rübenach, who own it to this day. At the end of the Second World War the palace was severely damaged; the main house was comprehensively renovated in 1964, followed by the coach house and estate office in 1988.

The palace is reached via a masonry bridge and the historic gate. The courtyard is framed by the three-winged ensemble; at its centre, on a circular island, stands a large chestnut tree together with the iron sculpture "Potential" by Ansgar Nierhoff, a permanent loan from Cologne's Museum Ludwig. The north-facing main house is flanked by the estate office to the east and the cavalier house to the west. Two sweeping outdoor staircases on the terrace lead down to the palace park with its old trees. The grounds also hold the burial chapel of the von Eltz-Rübenach family; among those interred in the family crypt is Paul von Eltz-Rübenach (1875–1943), a former German transport and postal minister.

The main house's rooms bear evocative names: the Garden Hall with its ceiling-high 18th-century oil paintings is considered the oldest room, the Chinese Room is done in the Rococo style, and the Pompeian Room in Neoclassicism. In 2018 the palace made headlines when its owners obtained a last-minute court injunction against a protocol reception for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hosted by the state government – on grounds of political conviction and because the lease did not provide for such use.