• Castles and Christmas
    2The castle itself, built in 3 stages. Top of the 1st stage is seen in the turrets' discoloration
    All the fortress works around are made of old stone work.No nails in the woodwork. Just white oak dowels. Wood was from various sources, painted in ox bloodHip roof structure in the last addition. St. Nick is said to hide up here till the big day.A meaningful graphito in the cells above the knights' hall, two floors down from the turrets' windowA piece of the wooden cells where prisoners carved during their stay.Branding shears used to cut and burn victims. Sometimes they were branded on the forehead.Torture implement, neck ring.Oldest altar cloth in Switzerland, hidden for centuries to prevent confiscation by the Bernese govt.Second oldest altar cloth hidden with the first till the castle was turned to a museum in the 1800s.Tapestry spoils of war rolled around the altar cloths.When Thun won a significant battle they moved the star on their coat of arms and turned it gold.Very narrow stairs up to a turret where a man killed his brother to take reign.My cap barely fits through the turret door.Imagine being a soldier chasing your enemy on these steps.Across the terracotta roof to the next turret. Mennonites hid and were hunted in the snowy valleys.Stadtkirche Thun from the Castle Turret. Mennonites were arrested and their property confiscated.Stockhorn is above the valley where Jacob Amman founded the Amish movement.For centuries this Knights Hall was the only used room in the castle, used for ceremonies & feasts.Bernese Piscator Bible, 1684. Trans. by Johannes Piscator, for those not loyal to Luther or Zwingli.When Mennonites were captured, their confiscated property funded the building of approved churches.Melchior Brenneman was kept here for several years till he was deported to Germany.

    Schloss Thun

    November 30, 2025 in Switzerland ⋅ ☁️ 45 °F

    We took the "Faith and Power" tour with Elsbeth Aebersold ... fantastic tour guide, even researched Melchior Brenneman in prep. Very well versed on the Mennonite plight between the 1600s and 1700s.