User Reviews
Today, Puchheim Castle is home to the regional music school, the tower gallery, the parish centre, the Maximilianhaus and the Redemptorist monastery.
Around 800 years ago, a so-called fortress was built in Puchheim, which burnt down completely in 1585. The castle was rebuilt in its present form by the Pollheim family. It was acquired by Count Adam von Herberstorff in 1627. From 1636 to 1760, the castle belonged to the Salburg family. The family of the Counts of Fuchs owned the castle from 1762 to 1838.Archduke Maximilian dÉste, a grandson of Empress Maria Theresa, acquired the Puchheim estate in 1838. In 1851, Maximilian brings the Redemptorists to Puchheim and gives them part of the main castle. The Bourbons inherit the castle in 1886.
Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.