Castle Map

Castle

Waldburg Castle

Germany · 12th century

Founded
c. 1150
Heritage status
Kulturdenkmal
Location
Waldburg
Coordinates
47.75889°, 9.71194°
Links
OpenStreetMap · Wikimedia Commons
Open on the map →Official website ↗Wikipedia ↗
Waldburg Castle in Germany
Photo: Andreas Praefcke · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

The Waldburg (English: Forest castle) is the ancestral castle of the stewards, Imperial Counts and later Imperial Princes from the House of Waldburg. It dates from the 12th century and stands on the march of the municipality Waldburg in the district of Ravensburg, applies as one of the best preserved medieval buildings, and is one of the landmarks and the highest point in Upper Swabia.

The Waldburg is a Hilltop castle located on a natural elevation, a drumlin from the last glacial period, at 772 metres (2,533 ft) height above sea level. The raised situation with view (when suitable weather conditions) to the west up to the Hohentwiel near Singen, to the north up to the Ulm Minster, to the east far back in the Alpine foothills and southwards far into the Swiss Alps and the Lake Constance made the Waldburg to an important trigonometric point also for land surveying in the early 19th century of the ordnance survey. The steepen drumlin already offers by his very big slope angle an almost ideal military protection for a castle construction, however, complicated also the building and expansion more than seven centuries considerably.

The hill castle was very woody till the 1980s. The view at the castle was moved again in the old condition for the public reopening in 1996 by specific deforestation in the beginning of the nineties. During the day, as well as at night with lighting, the castle is a very striking and important landmark in Upper Swabian.

The first foundation of the castle goes back to the 11th century. In this time the family of Waldburg received an official fief from the Guelphs. In the first half of the 13th century the castle was radically rebuilt, the palas was anew established up to the second upper floor.

Under Emperor Frederick II the Imperial Regalia were kept in the castle from 1220 to at least 1240. In 1327 the church Saint Magnus was built at feet of the castle.

At the middle of the 16th century under steward Georg IV of Waldburg the castle was developed to a residence similar to a palace. From the 17th century the castle was inhabited only sporadically by the family of Waldburg and the building activity decreased.

The Waldburg coat of arms depicts three black lions or alternatively leopards on a golden background.

Text adapted from “Waldburg Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

In the rankings

Waldburg Castle ranks #5,337 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #481 of the 927 mapped in Germany. Founded c. 1150, it is older than 80% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 810 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,577 times in the last 60 days, more than 68% of the atlas. 6 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Winterthur, 79 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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