The Luxembourg Palace in Germany

(CS/hay) When Claire Lademacher marries Prince Félix she will become a Luxembourg princess, but her hometown Königstein im Taunus already has a historic connection to the Grand Ducal family.

In the middle of Königstein lies the Luxembourg Palace, built towards the end of the 17th Century. To begin with the palace was a simpler administrative building for the Electors of Mainz. After turbulent years during the French Revolutionary Wars and being owned by a Frankfurt leather merchant for several years, the building was finally bought by Duke Adolphe.

The building was refurbished and transformed into a palace between 1873 and 1876 by Belgian architect Gégéon Bordiau, under the supervision of Adolphe's wife Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau.

For example, the main building was extended, a turret was added and the exterior was decorated.

In 1890, aged 73, Duke Adolphe became the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, but he would continue to spend the summer months at Luxembourg Palace in Königstein.

Following Adolphe's death in 1905, his widow Adelheid-Marie moved permanently to the palace, where she died in 1916.

The palace remained in the possession of the Grand Ducal family until 1952.

The palace later went first to a Frankfurt businessman, before it was bought by Königstein, and since 1981 it is the head office of the district court.

In 2009, the Luxembourg Palace made headlines when the Nassau emblem, a lion made from basalt that had disappeared decades ago, was returned.

According to media reports, the lion was stolen by a stonemason in the 1970s and discovered accidentally by his son, who gave the sculpture to a local history buff. The man in turn handed the lion over to the city.

Originally, the heraldic animal is thought to have stood on the palace's roof. It now stands in an alcove.

Except for the palace, there are other reminders of the Grand Ducal couple in Königstein, such as streets named after Adolphe and Adelheid-Marie, as well as a memorial for Duke Adolphe.