Castle Sigmaringen
N 48° 05.219 E 009° 12.963
32U E 516089 N 5325990
Castle Sigmaringen was first mentioned in the year 1077 in the chronicles of the Petershausen monastery.
Waymark Code: WM1Y3K
Location: Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Date Posted: 07/31/2007
Views: 144
The castle is still owned by the Hohenzollern family. Picture taking is not permitted inside the castle.
The oldest parts of the castle are hidden beneath the alterations and rebuilding, which took place during the 17th and the 19th centuries. The secret of the early settlements on this rock, which is very suitable for defence, will never really be uncovered. Extensive excavations would be necessary to do so. However, this is not possible because of the vast land development. Judging from the numerous roman finds in the area around Sigmaringen, the 12th century keep, the so-called "Roman Tower" could be traced back to a roman forerunner.
The preserved remains of the castle (the castle gate, the main building and the keep) date back to the Stauffer times around 1200. The remains were integrated into the later rebuilding. The foundation of the castle is to a large extent identical to its surrounding wall. These remains allow us to get a clear picture of the castle during the 12th century. With defence in mind the castle had tent and pen roofs, several towers and gates and round window openings and friezes in the solid walls and it was already an artistic highlight in the Upper Danube valley at that time.
No remarkable remains of the building were left behind during the 13th and 14th centuries. It was during the 15th century that a new building period of the castle took place under the important Count of Werdenberg. The Werdenbergs expanded the building to the northeast. The only part remaining from this period is the lintel engraved with the year 1498, which is part of the Swedish Tower. A few years later the building was expanded to the west. The third construction period was undertaken by Count Karl II of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1576-1606).
In the years between 1627 and 1630 the castle underwent a substantial transformation from castle to Renaissance chateau, under the supervision of the architect und master builder Hans Alberthal from Dillingen.
Around 1650 the two separate buildings resulting from the Werdenberg period were brought together under one roof by the architect and master builder Michael Beer from Au in the Bregenz Forest. Only minor rebuilding took place during the 18th century.
The ancestral hall was furnished within the castle in 1736 and was renovated in 1879. During the years 1860/1880 changes were made in a neo-Gothic style under the royal architect and master builder Josef Laur. Almost the entire castle was destroyed in the great fire in 1893 and thereafter underwent a thorough redesign. The Aulic Councillor Johannes de Pay and above all the Munich architect Emanuel von Seidl undertook this project and redesigned it in historicism or eclecticism style. The end of this building period was marked by the Portuguese Gallery, which encloses the inner courtyard of the castle on the side, which faces the city.
First mentioned in 1061, the Hohenzollern dynasty is one of the oldest and most significant Swabian noble families of Germany. The center of the territory once ruled by the Counts of Zollern – later to become counts of Hohenzollern in the 14th century - was located near the Hechingen castle, giving it its name. With the investiture of the Nuremberg castle, a Franconian line was created (1214) from which the Margraves of Brandenburg (1415), the Prussian Hohenzollern (1701) and finally the Hohenzollern imperial house evolved. (Frederick the Great was from the Hohenzollern family).
The Hohenzollern Swabian lines of Haigerloch, Hechingen and Sigmaringen were created in 1576 and raised to princedom in 1623. The princes of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen gained full sovereignty over their principalities in 1806, only to relinquish them to their related Prussian royal house a few decades later in 1850. After the Hohenzollern-Hechingen lineage died out due to the lack of a male heir, the Sigmaringen line assumed the title of Prince / Princess of Hohenzollern. The ancestral Hohenzollern castle in Hechingen is an architectural symbol of Prussian and Swabian kinship, both of which own the castle today.
Accessibility: Partial access
Condition: Intact
Admission Charge?: yes
Website: [Web Link]
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