Laufen Castle

Laufen-Uhwiesen, Switzerland

Laufen Castle is a castle in the municipality of Laufen-Uhwiesen in the Swiss canton of Zurich. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance overlooking the Rhine Falls.

The first documented reference to the castle dates to the year 858 when it was the home of the Barons of Laufen. It passed through several owners until the Old Zürich War (1439-1450) when the castle was acquired by the Fulach family, from whom the city of Zurich bought the castle in 1544. Following the Helvetic Republic (1798–1803) the castle was once again in private ownership, with the city of Zurich reacquiring the castle by buying it again in 1941.

The castle now serves as a tourist attraction, and contains a restaurant and a youth hostel. Between 2009 and 2010 a project was undertaken to restore and expand the facilities, including a visitors’ centre situated in the former staff quarters, an exhibition in the northern part of the castle, and a wheelchair-accessible circular walkway with glass lift between castle and river levels. Laufen is overlooking Wörth Castle, on the opposite side of the Rhein river, in the Canton of Schaffhausen.

The Rheinfall railway line passes through a tunnel under the castle, halting at the Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall station to the south of the tunnel and beneath the castle walls. The station is linked to the castle by a walkway.

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Address

Rheinfallweg, Laufen-Uhwiesen, Switzerland
See all sites in Laufen-Uhwiesen

Details

Founded: 9th century AD
Category: Castles and fortifications in Switzerland

More Information

www.zuerich.com
en.wikipedia.org
www.schlosslaufen.ch

Rating

4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

Interesting Sites Nearby


Wörth Castle (0,3 km)
Munot Castle (2,9 km)
Allerheiligen Abbey Church (2,6 km)
Rheinau Abbey (3,9 km)


Wasserkirche (34,6 km)
Grossmünster (34,5 km)
Fraumünster (34,6 km)
St. Peter's Church (34,4 km)
Swiss National Museum (33,6 km)
Lindenhof Hill (34,2 km)
Predigerkirche (34,1 km)
St. George's Abbey (18,5 km)
Rapperswil Castle (52,2 km)

User Reviews

Luciana Oliveira (2 months ago)
An inspiring place with a beautiful swiss architecture. The waterfalls are breathtaking! This place breathes peace. There are also lots of outdoor activities for kids. If you stop by, make sure to taste the local grilled sausages, served outside the castle. They are delicious!
rxrify (4 months ago)
My wife and I have had our wedding there around a year ago. All I can say is that the place is absolutely fantastic. With the Rheinfall in the background you have a stunning view, not to mention the beauty of the castle itself. The Restaurant staff was simply amazing in helping us organize and have a magical wedding. We went back for our first wedding day and again, the staff was extremely friendly and took great care of us. The food is also amazing, the kitchen staff knows what they're doing and you can taste they are doing it very well. I cannot recommend this place and its personnel enough!
Anıl Özcan (5 months ago)
A magical old castle turns to a good restaurant! It's just near the beautiful Rhinefall. The place is nice,view is amazing and the ambiance is outstanding! It was well decorated in winter. I like the garden. It's the best place if you are hungry around Rhinefall. I recommend...
Dr Mustafa (5 months ago)
Beautiful tourist destination. It is about half an hour from Zurich by road and very easily access. Plenty of free parking and there is a pleasant walk to the falls. A small charge of five francs per adult and three francs for children to access the viewing platforms and castle.
Giovanni Miranda (6 months ago)
Great magic and amazing place! A must to all who visit Switzerland. This fall has history and been an inspiration to many... don’t forget to visit the tiny town, church, cemetery and if you can make a reservation in the restaurant. Amazing food and service there.
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Moszna Castle

The Moszna Castle is one of the best known monuments in the western part of Upper Silesia. The history of this building begins in the 17th century, although much older cellars were found in the gardens during excavations carried out at the beginning of the 20th century. Some of the investigators, including H. Barthel, claimed that those cellars could have been remnants of a presumed Templar castle, but their theory has never been proved. After World War II, further excavations discovered a medieval palisade.

The central part of the castle is an old baroque palace which was partially destroyed by fire on the night of April 2, 1896 and was reconstructed in the same year in its original form by Franz Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. The reconstruction works involved an extension of the residence. The eastern Neogothic-styled wing of the building was built by 1900, along with an adjacent orangery. In 1912-1914, the western wing was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. The architectural form of the castle contains a wide variety of styles, thus it can be generally defined as eclectic.

The height of the building, as well as its numerous turrets and spires, give the impression of verticalism. The whole castle has exactly ninety-nine turrets. Inside, it contains 365 rooms. The castle was twice visited by the German Emperor Wilhelm II. His participation in hunting during his stay at the castle was documented in a hand-written chronicle in 1911 as well as in the following year. The castle in Moszna was the residence of a Silesian family Tiele-Winckler who were industrial magnates, from 1866 until the spring of 1945 when they were forced to move to Germany and the castle was occupied by the Red Army. The period of the Soviet control caused significant damage to the castle's internal fittings in comparison to the minor damage caused by WWII.

After World War II the castle did not have a permanent owner and was the home of various institutions until 1972 when it became a convalescent home. Later it became a Public Health Care Centre for Therapies of Neuroses. Nowadays it can be visited by tourists since the health institution has moved to another building in the neighbourhood. The castle also has a chapel which is used as a concert hall. Since 1998 the castle housed a gallery in which works of various artists are presented at regular exhibitions.

Apart from the castle itself, the entire complex includes a park which has no precise boundaries and includes nearby fields, meadows and a forest. Only the main axis of the park can be characterised as geometrical. Starting from the gate, it leads along the oak and then horse-chestnut avenues, towards the castle. Further on, the park passes into an avenue of lime trees with symmetrical canals running along both sides of the path, lined with a few varieties of rhododendrons. The axis of the park terminates at the base of a former monument of Hubert von Tiele-Winckler. On the eastern side of the avenue there is a pond with an islet referred to by the owners as Easter Island. The islet is planted with needle-leaved shrubs and can be reached by a Chinese-styled bridge. The garden, as part of the whole park complex was restored slightly earlier than the castle itself. Preserved documents of 1868 state that the improvement in the garden's aesthetic quality was undertaken by Hubert von Tiele-Winckler.

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