Schloss Alfter

Schloss Alfter is a listed, secular building in Alfter, a municipality in the Rhein-Sieg district (North Rhine-Westphalia).

The gentlemen de Halechtre (Knights of Alfter) were first mentioned in 1117, with the castle Alfter was connected in 1188 the Erbmarschallamt of Kurköln. The family of Metternich (with the lion coat of arms) on the moated castle Metternich also emerged from the knight family of Alfter, which is not to be confused with the equally well-known Metternich-based family of Metternich (with the coat of arms).
The Alfterer hereditary daughter Ricarda married in 1418 Wilhelm II of Wevelinghoven; her daughter Irmgard von Wevelinghoven married in 1433 the Count Johann VI. from Salm-Reifferscheidt-Dyck. At this 1461 the rule Alfter and the Erbmarschallamt went.

The castle was destroyed by fire in 1468. 

The current building, an irregularly closed rectangular building, was built in 1721 by Count Wilhelm von Salm. The horseshoe-shaped mansion and the farmyard are from the same period. The farmyard has been changed to this day. The mansion is a two-storey plaster construction under hipped roofs with tower-like corner risalites. Originally, the building had a red square painting, today it is painted yellow. In the basement of the northwestern corner building is still masonry columnar basalt from the time of 1200 to see.
The castle was from 1930 to 1961 seat of the family of Prince Franz Josef to Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim and Dyck. After his death, the permanent residence of the family was relocated to Dyck Castle. Since 2008, his grandson Simeon Count Wolff Metternich Imperial is the owner of the castle.
From 1947 to 1950 met in the castle at the invitation of Prince Salm the Thursday Society, a group of artists and art lovers.