If you’re searching for the Colombischlössle, look straight ahead for a stately, light-bricked villa with towers, elegant gothic windows, and a welcoming fountain sparkling in the grassy park right in front of you-almost as if a miniature palace has landed in the middle of a lush English garden.
Now, let’s step into the story! Imagine, for a moment, that it’s the year 1859, and-surprise!-you’re standing atop what was once the formidable Bastion Saint Louis of Freiburg’s old city walls. Suddenly, the clang of armor and shouts from soldiers are replaced by a steady thumping: tons and tons of earth are being brought in to transform this old military rampart into… well, a garden fit for a queen. Or, more precisely, a countess! Because right here, Gräfin Maria Antonieta Gertrudis de Colombi y de Bode had grand dreams-and a generous budget, I might add. With 300,000 Goldmarks in her pocket (about 750 Goldmarks per square meter-imagine the price per square meter today!), she set out to build her widow’s residence that would make the neighbors’ jaws drop.
And did she ever. The mastermind behind this vision was architect Georg Jakob Schneider, who borrowed inspiration from his mentor Friedrich Eisenlohr and the gothic Tudor style of medieval England. Picture arched windows, intricate stonework, a dramatic glass dome that bathes the grand staircase in light, and parquet floors so beautiful you might hesitate to step on them. Yes, elegance and a bit of showing off go hand in hand! You can almost hear the clip-clop of elegant boots and the rustling of silk dresses gliding across those floors-if ghosts haunt anywhere, surely they’d choose such splendid surroundings.
But life in a villa doesn’t always remain a fairy tale. After the countess’s death, the building passed to Johann Georg Thoma, an ambitious manufacturer, who wasn’t content just to enjoy the splendor-he parceled off parts of the land for new streets, including the Colombistraße and even the Rosastraße, cheekily named after his wife. By 1899, the city of Freiburg swooped in and took over the villa, and the place embarked on a new journey: from 1909 to 1923 it showed off the city’s finest art as a municipal museum before becoming a dignified (one might say slightly grandiose) administrative building for all sorts of civic duties.
You might expect an old manor house to retire quietly after such a regal career, but not the Colombischlössle! After World War II, it even played host to the state government for a while, with the sounds of political debates echoing through rooms where silk curtains once fluttered. The building flexed its administrative muscles again as the seat of the Badischen Verwaltungsgerichtshof-a mouthful, but imagine gavel bangs ringing in those historic halls.
It wasn’t until 1983 that the Colombischlössle embraced its final, most fitting incarnation: a museum, now housing the city’s archaeological treasures-fossils, artifacts, and secrets from deep beneath Freiburg’s cobblestones. The grand villa had become a time machine, ready to whisk visitors thousands of years back, all beneath its sparkling glass dome.
But let’s not forget the garden, which is more than just a lovely green carpet for the villa’s feet. Around 1860, this slice of land was reimagined as a dreamy English landscape garden, sprinkled with palm trees, exotic plants, flower beds humming with bees, and-even in modern times-a bubbling fountain at its heart. Over the years, the park became a place of surprises: a stage for open-air dinnershows beneath a winter mirror tent, a rendezvous for the city’s colorful characters, and yes, at times, even a backdrop for some of Freiburg’s more unusual nightlife (the stories these trees could tell!).
Always evolving, the park has faced more than a few growing pains, from bold renovations to community battles over playgrounds and its role as a meeting place for everyone-from families and dog-walkers to people seeking help or simply a moment of peace. By Christmas 2021, while the world wrestled with a pandemic, the park shimmered in festive lights, wrapping both villa and garden in a warm winter embrace.
So, as you stand outside the Colombischlössle, take in the scent of the flowers, the shimmer of water on the fountain, and maybe even the echo of a countess’ laughter on the breeze. Every stone here has a tale to tell, and just like a proper castle, its best secrets are waiting for curious adventurers-just like you! Ready for the next stop, or shall we linger a bit longer and check for hidden trapdoors?
