The Museen Schloss Aschach

There are three museums in the Museen Schloss Aschach (Schloss Aschach Museums) complex: the Graf-Luxburg-Museum (Graf Luxburg Museum), the Schulmuseum (School Museum) and the Volkskundemuseum (Museum of Folklore/Ethnology). The museums are run by the district of Lower Franconia.

Schloss Aschach (Aschach Castle), in the grounds of which the three museums are located, is in Aschach, Bad Bocklet in the Bavarian district of Bad Kissingen.

The castle can trace its history back to the 12th century.

The counts of Henneberg built a mediaeval castle on the site. Schloss Aschach was destroyed and rebuilt a number of times over the course of the 16th century. For nearly 300 years, it was the administrative centre and hunting lodge of the Würzburg prince-bishops. In 1802, the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg including Schloss Aschach came under the control of the Elector Palatine of Bavaria and in 1829, it was ultimately sold to the Sattler Family from Schweinfurt. In 1874, Friedrich, Count of Luxburg (1829-1905), Royal Bavarian President of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, and his wife Countess Luise (born Princess of Schönaich-Carolath, 1847-1929), acquired Schloss Aschach and fitted it out as the summer residence of their family with valuable antiques. Their second-oldest son Karl, Count of Luxburg (1872-1956), a long-serving diplomat for the German Empire, and his wife Countess Carola (nee Martínez de Hoz, 1877-1968) took over Schloss Aschach after the couple's death. Karl added art treasures he had acquired in Asia.

In 1955, Karl, Count of Luxburg, handed over the entire castle and grounds, including its contents, to the District of Lower Franconia. He wanted them to be preserved for posterity and made accessible to the public. In 1957, a year after the count's death, the Graf-Luxburg-Museum opened in the main castle building under the management of Prof. Max Hermann von Freeden (1913-2001), who was at the time the director of the Mainfränkisches Museum in Würzburg (now the Museum für Franken - Museum for Franconia).

After a four-year redesign, the Graf-Luxburg-Museum reopened with a new permanent exhibition in 2020. The living quarters of the family and the working quarters of their servants offer an insight into how the aristocracy lived in the 19th and 20th centuries. The collections on show of European and East Asian art were built up over the decades by Friedrich, Count of Luxburg and Karl, Count of Luxburg, and testify to the enthusiasm of a dedicated family of collectors.

In 1982, the Schulmuseum (School Museum) was set up in what had been the gardener's house. The Schulmuseum focuses on the history of schooling in rural Lower Franconia. It was followed in 1984 by the Volkskundemuseum (Museum of Folklore/Ethnology) in the old baroque fruit store. The exhibition gives an insight into life in the rural Rhön region in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Special exhibitions run in the nearby barn building.

• The objects of the "Museen Schloss Aschach" available on bavarikon

Collections of the Museen Schloss Aschach available on bavarikon

• The collection of East Asian Art at Graf-Luxburg-Museum, part of Museen Schloss Aschach