Heltorf Castle

Heltorf Castle (German: Schloß Heltorf) is a water castle located in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. First mentioned in the 11th century as Hof Helethorpe, the castle has a history tied to noble families such as the Lords of Heldorp, the von Troisdorf family, the von Scheidt Barons, and the Counts of Spee, who still own it today. The castle's current mansion was constructed in the early 19th century in the classicist style, featuring notable frescoes depicting scenes from the reign of Frederick Barbarossa.

Surrounded by a 54-hectare English landscape park designed by Maximilian Weyhe in 1803, Schloss Heltorf is known for its rare rhododendron plantings (second-oldest in Germany) and annual open-air Marian celebration. While the castle itself is not open to the public, the park welcomes visitors from May to October on weekends and public holidays. Heltorf is the biggest palace in Düsseldorf, since 1662, and serves as the homestead of the noble family Grafen von Spee.

Text adapted from “Schloss Heltorf” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Heltorf Castle ranks #5,503 of 8,764 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #461 of the 618 mapped in Germany. Founded c. 1050, it is older than 90% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 344 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,160 times in the last 60 days, more than 53% of the atlas. 12 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Duisburg, 10 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗