Schloss Lieser

The castle Lieser was built in place of a 1710 courtyard house of church property, possibly a former Trier Electorate estate. Castle Lieser (i.e. the manor) consists of two parts: The older part (seen from Moselle the larger part on the right) in style of Neo-Renaissance and the younger part in style of Art Deco. Architect of the older part, which was built from 1884-1887, was Heinrich Theodor Schmidt. He made a name for himself as specialist for villas in Frankfurt area but also designed public buildings. The Aquarium of zoological gardens Frankfurt, the reconstruction of the common house of palm garden Frankfurt which was previously destroyed by a fire in 1878 and Villa Holzmann at Untermainkai built for the developer Philipp Holzmann are works of Schmidt, who was also involved in the restoration of Castle Eltz. After the demolition of many of his works he largely fell into oblivion. Builder of the older part of Castle Lieser was the manufacturer Eduard Puricelli (1826-1893). Eduard Puricelli founded and managed several gas works - also in Trier and the “Rheinböller Hütte”, one of the oldest and largest ironworks of Hunsrück. Puricelli applied for elective offices for catholic and conservative parties several times and was member of the constitutive Reichstag of the North German Confederation. Along with 11 other Trier enterprises Puricelli championed the annexing of Lorrain for economical reasons after the Franco-Prussian War 1870/71. Eduard Puricelli’s daughter Maria, sole heir to the parental possessions, married the high Pussian official Dr. Clemens Baron of Schorlemer-Alst (1856-1922) in 1880. Due to his position in Prussian administration Clemens of Schorlemer made the acquaintance of Emperor Wilhelm II., who held him in high regards. The Emperor was guest at Castle Lieser three times. The preserved protocols of these visits give proof of the meticulous planning, not even the outer appearance of the village policeman was left to chance. After the death of Dr. Clemens Baron of Schorlemer-Alst the possessions included apart form the expanding Rheinböllener Hütte extensive wine-growing estates in Lieser, Zeltingen, Wintrich, Graach and Brauneberg, newly established wine sites in Serring and Ockfen, forest estates and woods in Winterhauch at Nahe and in Merxheim as well as land property and houses in Trier. The remarkable of this building is that the ground floor houses only cellars and utility rooms in order to evade the constantly threatening Moselle floods. The heart of the villa is a main pavilion sectioned into four floors with a tower in front. In the east the private chapel is attached, in the west a three-floored wing which connects it with the newer part that turned the villa into a castle. The extension became necessary when Maria and Clemens of Schorlemer-Alst took up residence. The exact building date cannot be proved. Literature provides contradictory dates between 1895 and 1905. Even though the details (Art Deco) differ from the older part the unknown architect sought to create a homogeneous overall picture by a similar structure and choice of material. The castle has its own powerhouse, which Schorlemer had built in 1901. Parts of the interior decoration and the furnishing from the building times are still present for instance doors, ovens, fireplaces, stairs. In 1981 the community Lieser bought the castle and its outbuildings for 600.000 DM of family Schorlemer-Lieser. On that occasion the estate a preservation order was put on the facility. The last resident was Marliese Rheinen (1898-1990), widowed baroness of Schorlemer-Lieser. After her death the building was empty for ten years and was only used once a year for the castle fete at Pentecost. (Dorothe Werner; Schloss Lieser an der Mosel) Currently the castle is turned into a luxury hotel.