Alsbach Castle was built around 1235 by Gottfried I von Bickenbach and called Bickenbach Castle. The Bickenbachs were a minor noble family from the Odenwald. This more-substantial structure was probably the successor to an earlier motte and bailey castle located on nearby Weiler Hill and was built to protect the family’s territorial interests after Lorsch Abbey became a subordinate of the Archbishopric of Mainz.
In 1463, the free city of Frankfurt, in retaliation for a robbery committed against one of the communal owners, overran the castle, plundered it and burnt it to the ground. It was quickly rebuilt. During the War of Succession of Landshut the Landgrave of Hessen, Wilhelm I, took the castle in 1504 without a fight, and it remained, thereafter, in Hessen hands.
During the Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648), the castle was used by the local population as a place of refuge, though afterwards it was abandoned, fell into disrepair and was used as a source of building stones for other structures. It was not until the end of the 19th century that the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt secured the ruins, and after World War II, restoration began in earnest. The castle was then renamed Alsbacher Schloss.
References:Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.
The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.
Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.