Discover the peaceful and charming location of our hotel, which is housed in an old aristocratic residence and offers a special atmosphere for conferences and relaxation. Our hotel combines the historical elegance of an old aristocratic residence with modern comfort and contemporary hospitality. We see ourselves as a place for special occasions and offer the best conditions for successful meetings and relaxation.
History of the Hotel Jagdschloss Niederwald
Hotel Jagdschloss Niederwald - History meets hospitality
History meets hospitality
Niederwald Hunting Lodge has a rich history dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries. It was originally a feudal estate of the defiant Ehrenfels Castle on the Binger Loch. In 1705, it was acquired by the prince-bishops of Mainz for the family of the Counts of Ostein.
Under Maximilian von Ostein, the current main building was erected around 1764 as a ‘hunting lodge’ on the purely agricultural estate. The Dukes of Nassau took over the estate and the hunting lodge in 1835 and began to create the park-like design of the ‘Niederwald’, today's ‘Rheingau Untertaunus Nature Park’.
In the course of the 19th century, the hunting lodge became Prussian due to Prussian rule. Before the war, the main building served as a family holiday hotel, during the war as a military hospital and then as a recreation centre for American officers.
In July 1948, the so-called ‘Niederwald Conference’ took place in the ‘Grüner Salon’, attended by Konrad Adenauer and the heads of the federal states, among others. This conference laid the foundation for today's Basic Law.
In the 1960s, the agricultural land was leased out and the state of Hesse began to gradually develop the hunting lodge into a contemporary hotel and a place of hospitality.
Niederwald Conference in the Green Salon
The Niederwald Conference was a meeting of eleven West German minister presidents in 1948 near Rüdesheim am Rhein. It took place in three sessions at the Niederwald hunting lodge. The main topic was the discussion of the three Frankfurt documents in which the Western powers had called for the formation of a West German state. The Minister Presidents had previously formulated the ‘Koblenz Resolutions’ at the Rittersturz Conference, but these were rejected by the Western powers, making new negotiations necessary. At the Niederwald Conference, the Minister Presidents decided to agree to the formation of a Western state and to draw up a ‘provisional constitution’ without giving up their claim to all-German unity. This decision later led to the constitutional convention at Herrenchiemsee. The Niederwald hunting lodge thus became an important place in the history of the German constitution.