Bensberg Palace (Schloss Bensberg) is a former hunting lodge of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine (the House of Wittelsbach). The palace was commissioned by Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine for his wife Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici. Anna Maria Luisa enjoyed the site's elevated scenery and views onto the River Rhine, Rhine Valley and Cologne Bight. The building was designed by Italian Baroque architect Matteo Alberti and completed in 1711.
Today Bensberg Palace is a hotel.
References:Sigmaringen Castle was first mentioned in the year 1077 in the chronicles of Petershausen monastery. The oldest parts of the castle are concealed beneath the alterations made during the 17th and the 19th centuries. The secret of the earliest settlement built on this defendable rock will never be fully revealed: large-scale excavation work would be necessary, which the extensive land development renders impossible. Judging from the many Roman remains unearthed in the area around Sigmaringen, the 12th century keep known as the 'Roman Tower' could be traced back to a Roman predecessor.
The castle remains that have been preserved (gate, great hall and keep) date back to the Staufer period around 1200. The castle remains were integrated into subsequent buildings. The foundations of the castle buildings are to a large extent identical to the surrounding castle wall.
These remains give us a good idea of how the castle might have looked during the 12th century.