Castles in Germany are some of the most picturesque structures in the country, perfect illustrations of medieval fairytales with their walls and turrets. A good number of them can be found on the banks of the Mosel and central Rhine, while travellers wanting to see castles with moats should head to the Munster area.
Many castles have been spruced up over the years and continue to be the residence of the families for whom they were built. Others have been left to the hands of time, but their beauty is still evident in its ruins. Following is a handful of castles to visit in Germany.
Burg Hohenzollern Castle in Germany
Burg Hohenzollern in Hechingen has perched on a clifftop in the Swabian Jura since the 13th century and is the seat of the Hohenzollern family. Its medieval appearance suits its surroundings of walls and turreted towers, as well as The Great Knights’ Hall, where knights ate, drank and were merry.
Other sites on the grounds of Burg Hohenzollern are the gardens, the Evangelical chapel, and The Royal Room, an apartment specifically for the use of important guests. Access to the castle is through a main entrance, which leads through a gate house in the form of a tower.
Heidelberg Castle in Germany
Heidelberg Castle, a Gothic-Renaissance structure, was the seat of the House of Wittelsbach palantines. Its remodeling in the 16th century proved somewhat futile, as the Thirty Years’ War and 1689 war with France destroyed much of the castle. Today, most of it is in ruins, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a visit. The grounds offer much to explore.
The Deutches Apothekenmuseum, for instance, fills one old building with a traveling pharmacy and Baroque and Rococo workshops. Another building, the antique-looking rectangular Ruprechtsbau, has weathered the years. A master builder from Frankfurt constructed it around 1400, which now makes it the oldest surviving part of the castle.
Frierich’s Palace is one of the “newer” structures on the castle ground, dating from 1601-1607. It’s a white building with an elaborate and ornate façade, complete with arched windows on its ground floor. Inside are statues of members of the Wittelsbach dynasty, including Charles the Great.
The Wartburg Castle in Germany
The Wartburg Castle contains quite a history and is like its own little village. St. Elizabeth of Thuringia called the castle home between 1211 and 1228, as did Martin Luther between May 1521 and March 1522, while he translated the New Testament into German. Today, tourists can visit sites paying homage these individuals on the castle grounds.
Elisabethkemenate contains St. Elizabeth’s rooms, where mosaics on the walls of spaces with arched ceilings tell her life story. In contrast is the fairly bare Lutherstube, the room where Martin Luther lived and worked. Simple wood paneling on the walls surround simple furnishings, giving the entire room the look of a Picasso masterpiece, painted during his blue period.
Neue Kemenate and Landgrafenzimmer is where more real art can be found at the Wartburg Castle. The building houses an art collection, with sculptures from Tilman Riemenschneider’s workshop. Landgrafenzimmer, the landgraves’ chambers in the oldest part of the castle, were decorated in 1854 with paintings depicting the castle’s history, by Moritz von Schwind.
Burg Eltz Castle in Germany
Burg Eltz in Mosel was built between the 12th and 16th centuries and survived the years with few alterations. It’s in private hands, but open to visitors. A tour of the castle reveals the the Rübenach Lower Hall, covered by a 15th-century wood ceiling; Gothic ornaments and figures in a dressing room; the Rübenach Bedroom, which displays filigree frescos from 1470, and the middle-ages Rodendorf kitchen.
Armour, weapons, pottery, porcelain, furniture and stained glass inhabit other halls and rooms of the castle, as well as works of art and a huge moose trophy in the hunting room. (A member of the Eltz family shot the beast during a trip to Alaska in the early 20th century).
Rheinfels Castle in Germany
Rheinfels Castle has been looking down on St. Goar in the Rhine Valley since 1245, when it was built by Count Dieter von Katzenelbogen. It’s in ruins today, thanks to French troops who captured the castle in 1794 and blew it up. There’s more to Rheinfels Castle than meets the eye, however.
The ruins are expansive and impressive, but visitors can also marvel at some of the trenches and tunnels on the grounds, and soak up the castle’s military and cultural significance in the form of old plans and illustrations in the museum, which is located in a former chapel.
Picture-perfect castles across Germany’s landscapes contain within their walls what could be their own little villages, with chapels, gardens, museums and function rooms, making them places where visitors can while away the hours. Some castles have been refurbished while some are in ruins, a testament to their history that is also evident in their layout and architecture, and in the artifacts in their rooms.
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