Schloss Blutenburg, Munich

Schloss Blutenburg is a late-Gothic castle complex beside the Würm, with the river enclosing both the main buildings and the chapel. Its story reaches back to a medieval water fortress; the present ducal country seat took shape between 1431 and 1440 under Albrecht III, who used it as a rural residence and hunting lodge. The chapel gives this place its richest artistic detail.

Sigismund of Bavaria commissioned it in 1488, and its surviving stained-glass windows and three altar paintings date from 1491, with Jan Polack responsible for the paintings. Along the chapel walls, an apostle cycle made around 1490/95 accompanies the figures known as the Man of Sorrows and the Blutenburg Madonna. Look for the ring wall, its towers, and the gate tower: later rebuilding reduced the fortress’s defensive character, but the castle still keeps a strong enclosed form.

The complex was restored for a new cultural life, and since 1983 it has housed the International Youth Library. Inside, its reading museums include the Michael Ende Museum, the James Krüss Tower, the Erich Kästner Room, and the Binette Schroeder Cabinet. In the forecourt, a 2013 memorial by Joseph Michael Neustifter recalls the love between Albrecht III and Agnes Bernauer.