The
art, the variety and the splendour of the 17th and 18th century can be admired
in the leather tapestries and the wall hangings in the Parade Hall, the Marble
Room, the Geat Hall and the Green Hall. The museum, one of the oldest and biggest
in North Rhine-Westphalia, also includes the library, the kitchens (15th c.),
the dining hall, the collections of curios, the big tower, which houses the
armoury and the dungeon. Historical weapons and coins can also be found among
the various exhibits displayed in the museum.
The library contains the extensive collection of books of the Earls of Bronckhorst-Batenburg
and the Princes of Salm-Salm. Works on theology, jurisdiction, medicine and
history as well as the classics make up the majority of the 7000 volumes which
have been accumulated here.
In the Billard
Hall, paintings of Dutch and Flemish painters of the 17th and 18th century
are exhibited. Moreover, this room is decorated by magnificent chandeliers.
In the Great
Hall, the portraits of the Earls of Bronckhorst-Batenburg and the Princes
of Salm-Salm can be seen.
Particularly
striking in this hall is the original wooden floor made from fir boards with
a length of 16.25 metres. When restoration work was being done in 1965, the
gold covering of the ceiling was discovered and uncovered.
