- "Ah, Brunwald Castle. I don't know how I'm going to find Dad in a maze like this, but I'll think of something..."
- ―Indiana Jones[src]
Castle Brunwald was a castle on the Austro-German border. For a time, it was used by Nazis as a secret base. Henry Jones, Sr. was captured and kept there. The castle held many fine tapestries as part of the Brunwald family's art collection.
Indiana Jones and Elsa Schneider entered the castle to rescue his father, and knocked out the Butler who didn't believe Jones' cover story. Jones located his room and entered through the window. However when they exited, he was confronted by Vogel who pretended to have captured Elsa; Indy, to save her life, surrendered the Grail Diary to him, after which Elsa revealed her true affiliation.
The two Joneses were re-captured, and met Donovan there, who also turned out to be a Nazi. The Joneses were tied on a chair and unintentionally burned down a portion of the castle before escaping on a motorcycle/sidecar combination.
After that, they traveled to Berlin to retrieve the Grail Diary.
Brunwald art collection
Items in the Brunwald collection in 1938 included:
- 14th Century Georgian Lucasian
- Brunwald tapestry
- Sunday in the Park
- Louvre sculpture
- Seashore
- Science fiction monster painting
- The Fifer
- Dropcloth painting
- Fred & Edna painting
- Brunwald painting
- Swiss mountain painting
- Dogs Playing Poker
- Indy's trophy painting
- Grail painting
Behind the scenes
Schloss Buerresheim, near the city of Mayen in Rhineland-Pfalz
The real castle, Schloss Bürresheim, lies in Rhineland-Pfalz, in the Mayen-Koblenz district. Secluded in a forested valley in the Eifel Mountains near Burg Olbrück and Castle Nürburg, it still retains some of the oppresive aura seen in the movie, however, there are no fine tapstries hanging on the walls. The castle was also used in the 1994 made-for-television film Prince Brat and the Whipping Boy, which is based on a story by Sid Fleischman.
During the development of the film's script, written by Jeffrey Boam, the Castle was called Castle Grunwald instead of Castle Brunwald. However, during the rewrite sessions, it was changed to Brunwald.[1]
The idea of a victorian castle is derived from Indiana Jones and the Monkey King, a script that Chris Columbus wrote during the development of the third Indy film, since in this script, the film began in a Scottish mansion very similar to Brunwald. However, the script was rejected, plus the idea of a castle was later used in the final film.[2]
Appearances
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade novel
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade game
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: The Graphic Adventure