Family History of the Kühtai Hunting Lodge.
The history of the Jagdschloss Kühtai is closely bound to the house of Habsburg
as well as to the house of the Counts of Stolberg-Stolberg by the marriage of
the Emperor’s grand child Hedwig (1896 - 1970) .
This goes back to the „Dichterfürst“ (Poet Prince) Friedrich
Leopold (1750 - 1819) who was, like his brother, a member of the Göttingen
League of the Grove and undertook a journey to Switzerland with Goethe.
The friendship
with Goethe dissolved when Friedrich Leopold entered the Catholic faith in 1800.
There were some deep relationships at that time between Klopstock, M. Claudius
and Herder.
In 1893 Emperor Franz Josef bought the charter of Kühtai and bequeathed
it to his daughter Marie-Valerie (1868 - 1924). She went on to give Kühtai
to her daughter Hedwig in 1917 as a wedding present when she married Count Bernhard
of Stolberg-Stolberg (1881 – 1952).
In 1952 Emperor Franz Josef’s great grandson Count Karl of Stolberg-Stolberg
revitalised the noble hunting residence and transformed it into the present ”Kühtai
Hunting Lodge“.
