Heiligenberg Castle, Heiligenberg, Germany

Schloss Heiligenberg is a Renaissance-style castle owned by the Fürstenberg family. It is located on a plateau 730 metres above sea level, with views down onto the Bodensee and the Alps. It was first built in the Middle Ages - in 1250 count Berthold of Heiligenberg built a burgh on the site, which was bought in 1277 by count Hugo of Werdenberg. Under the counts of Werdenberg-Heiligenberg, the castle expanded during the late Middle Ages.

Through countess Anna of Werdenberg's marriage to count Friedrich zu Fürstenberg in 1516, the burgh passed to the house of Fürstenberg in 1535 - it is still owned by that family today. Shortly before his death in 1559, Friedrich decided to remodel the castle in the Renaissance style. The building as it is seen today dates to count Joachim (1538–1598), who from 1560 to 1575 rebuilt the late medieval burgh into a 'schloss', with a Renaissance-style courtyard and an extended ballroom wing to the south.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Bernd Korz (3 years ago)
Ich war sehr beeindruckt. Man fühlt sich in der Zeit zurückversetzt

Bernd Korz (3 years ago)
I was very impressed. You feel relocated in time

Cécile CRONNIER (4 years ago)
Magnifique chapelle et grande salle du château également. Nous avons vu également un salon, la cuisine et deux pièces. Nous avons eu une explication écrite en français mais la visite s'est faite en allemand. Nous n'avons malheureusement pas compris les anecdotes mais les guides étaient très sympathiques.

Cécile CRONNIER (4 years ago)
Magnificent chapel and large hall of the castle as well. We also saw a living room, the kitchen and two rooms. We had an explanation written in French but the visit was done in German. We unfortunately did not understand the anecdotes but the guides were very friendly.

Kerstin Schlegel (4 years ago)
Interressante Führung, es sind nur Teile vom Schloss zur öffentlichen Besichtigung frei gegeben, trotzdem sehenswert

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright joiseyshowaa

Historic Site of the week

Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

Do you know an ancient castle or magnificent church near you?

Why not share it with other people interested in history? You can add your own historic sites and attractions to SpottingHistory.com.

It's absolutely free, easy, and doesn't even need registration!

Upload data

Heiligenberg Castle

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

House of the Dragon Filming Locations

Historic Landmarks of Sicily

Rhodes, The Island of Knights

Historic Site of the week

Broch of Gurness

Looks like you are a history fan!