Castle image by Henk Brouwer, inset by Graham Gauld.
Copyright Henk J. Brouwer
[Henk Brouwer visited the von Trips Museum in 2001 and wrote about it for VeloceToday. It may be one of the only complete descriptions of the Museum as it apparently closed its doors in 2014. Ed.]
As we have recounted in Part 1, Count “Taffy” von Trips lived in a castle, whose foundations dated from the late 14th century. The castle Hemmersbach was awarded to Franz Adalph Ansem Berghe von Trips in 1751 and extended by Wolfgang’s grandfather in 1899. Wolfgang’s father Eduard continued to live in the castle until his death in 1971. The widowed Thessa, then moved out of the castle into the nearby Villa Trips which she had built, until her death in 1978.
The castle was sold in 1984 to a private owner who restored it in 1988. After that, the castle seemed to be neglected. In 1999 it was sold to a software engineer, and there was a very radical restoration of the whole castle in progress, starting with the outbuildings. The estate directly around the castle is fully fenced in. Warnings of big, mean dogs are posted on the fences. The castle leaves a ruinous impression, caused by the rampancy of ivies and weeds between the bricks of the entrance and some blisters on the paint. With thunder, lightning, rain and wind, the castle even can look lugubrious.