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Georg and Wilhelm
Hello, we are Georg and Wilhelm. We want to show you Ratibor Castle. We know this place really well, you know. Georg had this castle built almost 500 years ago and Wilhelm had the rooms furnished 120 years ago, just the way you can see them today. Rollo, Wilhelm’s dog, will also join us on our tour.
You will find us in various places in the castle. You will surely recognize us, even if we are wearing beards in the pictures, well, people used to be fond of beards in those times. You can see Georg on the fountain in the castle yard, for example. He was a lord, a margrave, and liked hunting in the woods of the Roth area. For this, he needed some accommodation, so, he had Ratibor Castle built. Furthermore, he introduced the Protestant religion in his territory. This is why he was also called „the Pious“.
Wilhelm was later the owner of a successful factory in Roth, which was producing Lyonese Wares. These are gold-plated and silver-plated fine wires which are used for cables or decoration on clothes. When Wilhelm inherited the castle from his father, it was a part of the factory, and workers produced the wares in its buildings and its yard. But Wilhelm was so successful with his enterprise here that he preferred to use it for leading the life of a margrave.