Coburg Fortress

The Veste Coburg, also known as the “Frankish Crown”, dominates the town with its mighty walls and towers. First mentioned in 1056, the fortress complex we know today originated during the period of the Staufen dynasty. The cultural heyday of the Veste came in the early 16th c., when it was the seat of the electors of Saxony. Starting in the 19th c., the castle underwent alteration and extension in the spirit of the Gothic Revival, and the dukes of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha installed in it art collections of world stature. Besides the copperplate engraving cabinet, one of the largest in Germany, the collections also include valuable Venetian glassware, baroque glassware, a collection of period hunting weapons and an armoury with items dating from the 15th to the 18th century. Other gems in the collection include the two oldest carriages in the world still in working order, and baroque sleighs. Major works by German renaissance artists, including paintings by Cranach, Dürer and Grünewald.