Hohenzollern Castle (Burg Hohenzollern)

Hohenzollern Castle - a fortress in Baden-Württemberg, located 50 km south of Stuttgart. The castle was the heritage of the medieval Hohenzollern dynasty. The building is located on the top of the mountain at an altitude of 855 meters near the Hechingen and Bisingen housing estates.

The first mention of the medieval stronghold of the Hohenzollern family appear in the documents from 1267. It is assumed that the castle was built even earlier, even in the 11th century.

In 1423, the fortress was besieged by imperial troops in Swabia. On May 15 that same year, it was conquered and completely destroyed. In the years 1454-1461, the second castle was built.

During the Thirty Years' War, the fortress played a very important strategic function. In 1634, the stronghold was captured by the Württemberg armies. After the war, the building was still under the control of the Habsburgs.

During the war for the Austrian succession, the castle was occupied by French soldiers. After the war, the fortress lost its strategic sense and gradually fell into disrepair. From 1798, when the last Austrian owner left the castle, the building complex began to deteriorate rapidly. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the fortress was in ruins, and the chapel was still used.

The structures of the castle that exist to this day were built between 1850 and 1867 by the famous architect Fryderyk August Shtyuler.

Hohenzollern Castle was created in the neo-Gothic style with a strong influence of German Romanticism. It is the embodiment of a medieval fortress. It is located near another unusual fortress - Neuschwanstein, although without such fantastic elements decor.

On September 3, 1978, the castle was severely damaged by an earthquake. Due to renovation works, it was closed to the public until the mid-1990s.

Since the construction, the castle was practically not used by the Hohenzollerns, the army, or for official purposes. Only the last prince of Prussia, Wilhelm, lived here for several months after the evacuation of Potsdam. In 1952, the works from the Hohenzollern family collection were brought here.

One of the most famous monuments is the crown of Prussian kings and uniforms belonging to Frederic the Great. Until 1991, the remains of Fryderyk I and Fryderyk Wielkie were kept in the castle. After the unification of Germany, they returned to Potsdam.

The Hohenzollern castle is visited annually by over 300,000 tourists from around the world, making it one of the most visited castles in Germany.

The castle has 140 rooms, a library with wall paintings, a king's bedroom, a family tree and a queen's salon.