Photographs of
German Castles and Manor Houses

Schloss Altdöbern, Altdöbern, Brandebourg, Germany

Altena Castle

Altena

Germany

Burg Altena (Altena Castle), Altena, Märkischer Kreis, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Altena Castle is a Medieval hill castle in the town of Altena in western Germany. It was erected by the early Counts of Berg - in the early 12th century. Eventually, the House of Berg abandoned Altena and moved their residence to Hamm.

In 1912, Richard Schirrmann established the world's first youth hostel within the castle, which is still in use today (the Jugendherberge Burg Altena).

Anholt Castle

District of Borken, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany

The Lordship of Anholt was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. It was an imperial estate and a member of the Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle. The Lordship bordered three larger states: the Duchy of Guelders, the Bishopric of Münster, and the Duchy of Cleves.

Schloss Augustusburg, Parkplatz, Max-Ernst-Allee, 50321 Brühl, Germany

The Augustusburg and Falkenlust palaces constitute an historical building complex in Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, which have been listed as a UNESCO cultural World Heritage Site since 1984.

The palaces were built at the beginning of the 18th century by the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Clemens August of Bavaria of the Wittelsbach family.

Schloss Augustusburg, Brühl, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

UNESCO world heritage site.

Schloss Berlepsch

Witzenhausen, Germany

Berlepsch Castle was built in 1298 by Arnold of Berlepsch, on behalf of the landgrave of Hesse to protect this part of Hesse against encrouchments of the Duke of Brunswick.

The castle was rebuilt and extended in the 19th. century.

It still belongs still to the Berlepsch family.

Wasserschloss Haus Bodelschwingh, Mengede, Dortmund, Germany

Wasserschloss Haus Bodelschwingh (Bodelschwingh Castle) is a moated castle. It was built in the 13th century by the family of Bodelschwinghstraße and is still owned by the family

Bodelschwingh castle is located near to the water tower house Dellwig and the moated castle Haus Rodenberg the largest and most important water castle in Dortmund.

Near the castle developed a settlement, Bodelschwinghstraße, which kept its independence until 1928. Today, the district of Bodelschwinghstraße belongs to the municipality of Mengede.

The castle is registered as a historic landmark in the list of monuments of the city of Dortmund.

Wasserschloss Haus Bodelschwingh

Mengede, Dortmund, Germany

Wasserschloss Haus Bodelschwingh (Bodelschwingh Castle) is a moated castle, built in the 13th century by the family of Bodelschwingh (it is now owned by the family Knyphausen)

Bodelschwinghstraße castle is located near to the water tower house Dellwig and the moated castle Haus Rodenberg the largest and most important water castle in Dortmund.

Near the castle there developed a settlement which kept its independence until 1928. Today, the district of Bodelschwingh belongs to the municipality of Mengede.

The castle is registered as a historic landmark in the list of monuments of the city of Dortmund.

Schloss Braunfels (Braunfels caste)

Lahn-Dill-Kreis

Gießen, Hesse

Germany

Schloss Braunfels (Braunfels castle)

Belzgasse 1, 35619 Braunfels

Lahn-Dill-Kreis

Hesse

Germany

Schloss Braunfels,
Lahn-Dill-Kreis
Gießen
Hesse
Germany

Burg zu Burghausen, Burghausen Castle, Upper Bavaria, Germany

Burghausen Castle is the longest castle complex in Europe. The gothic castle comprises the main castle with the inner courtyard and five outer courtyards.

Schloss Burghausen (Burghausen Castle)

Altötting district

Oberbayern

Germany

Burghausen Castle is situated on the Salzach river, near the border with Austria and is said to be the longest castle in Europe

Burghausen, Upper Bavaria, Germany

Burghausen Castle in Burghausen, Upper Bavaria, is the longest castle complex in Europe (1,043 m).

The gothic castle comprises the main castle with the inner courtyard and five outer courtyards. The outermost point of the main castle is the Palas with the ducal private rooms. Today it houses the castle museum, including late Gothic paintings of the Bavarian State Picture Collection. On the town side of the main castle next to the donjon are the gothic inner Chapel of St. Elizabeth (1255) and the Dürnitz (knights' hall) with its two vaulted halls. Opposite the Dürnitz are the wings of the Duchess' residence.

Schloss Burgsteinfurt, Steinfurt, Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Castle Bürresheim (Schloss Bürresheim), near Mayen, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

The castle consists of buildings constructed between the twelfth and the seventeenth century. Almost all of it is original, including the twelfth century keep, which is the oldest part. The castle was never taken or raised or slighted (unlike almost all other Rhine castles).

It featured in the film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, in which it was called Brunwald Castle

Schloss Bürresheim, (Bürresheim Castle)

56727 Mayen

Rhineland-Palatinate

Germany

Schloss Celle

Celle, Lower Saxony, Germany

Also known as das Celler Schloss and as Celle Palace, this quadrangular building was one of the residences of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

The castle has rooms and halls datig back to different periods. The court chapel was converted after the Reformation and has been preserved almost unchanged with its Renaissance architecture. The baroque-style state rooms have also been preserved. In the Gothic Hall there are constantly changing exhibitions and in the East Wing is a section of Celle's Bomann Museum, dedicated to the history of the Kingdom of Hanover. The historic castle rooms and the castle chapel, restored between 1978 and 1981, may be visited as part of a guided tour.

The Veste Coburg, or Coburg Fortress, on a hill above the city of Coburg, Bavaria, Germany.

Veste Coburg (also called the "Franconian Crown" )is one of Germany's largest castles. It dominates the town of Coburg on Bavaria's border with Thuringia. The Veste Coburg was the historical seat of the independent duchy of Coburg in Franconia, now part of the German state of Bavaria. Martin Luther lived in the Veste for a number of months during the Diet of Augsburg in 1530.

In the twentieth century, the castle was the residence of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a grandson of Queen Victoria, who was also (until 1919) the 2nd Duke of Albany in the United Kingdom.

Schloss Drachenburg (Drachenburg Castle)

Königswinter

on the Rhine near Bonn

Germany

Burg Eltz

located above the Moselle River

between Koblenz and Trier

Germany

Burg Eltz

located above the Moselle River

between Koblenz and Trier

Germany

Eltz Castle (Burg Eltz)

a medieval castle in the hills above the Moselle River between Koblenz and Trier, GERMANY.

The Eltz family lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago, and still does. About 100 members of the owners’ families lived in the over 100 rooms of the castle. It is a Ganerbenburg, or castle belonging to a community of joint heirs. It is divided into several parts, which belong to different branches of a family. In the case of Eltz, the family comprised three branches and the existing castle comprises three separate complexes of buildings The Rübenach and Rodendorf families’ homes in the castle are now open to the public, while the Kempenich branch of the family uses the other third of the castle. The main part of the castle consists of the family portions with up to eight stories and with eight towers reaching heights of between 30 and 40 meters.

This is as close as reality gets to Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast

The Evenburg, Loga (or Leer), Lower Saxony, Germany.

The Evenburg is a water castle not far from the River Leda. In 1861/62, the building was rebuilt in the Neo-Gothic style.

After recent extensive renovation work the Evenburg is now home to various institutions including the Education Academy of East Frisia and a college for grammar school teachers.

Falkenberg Castle (Burg Falkenberg)

Falkenberg (district of Tirschenreuth), Upper Palatinate, Bavaria, Germany.

The castle walls have foundations dating back to the eleventh century. It was mentioned for the first time in 1154.

In 1803 it was acquired by the Crown of Bavaria.

Fasanenschlösschen

Schloßallee, 01468 Moritzburg, Saxony, GERMANY

The small château of Faisanderie (Fasanenschlößchen) is a pavillon in the parc of Schloss Moritzburg (Castle Moritzburg).

Moritzburg Castle is a Baroque palace in Moritzburg, in the German state of Saxony, about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) Northwest of Dresden.

Wasserschloß Glatt

Schloß 1, 72172 Sulz am Neckar

Rottweil

Baden-Württemberg

Germany

Schloss Glücksburg

(Lyksborg Slot or Glücksburg Castle)

Glücksburg

Germany

Glücksburg Castle is one of the most important Renaissance castles in northern Europe.

It is the seat of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and was also used by the Danish kings.

Situated on the Flensburg Fjord the castle is now a museum owned by a foundation.

Burg Gudenau

Wachtberg, Rhein-Sieg district, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Castle Gudenau is a Wasserschloß - or moated castle.

Hambach Castle

Hambach Neustadt an der Weinstraße

in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Hambach Castle is located on the mountain Schlossberg (literally translated "Castle mountain"; elevation: 325m) in the eastern outskirts of the Palatine Forest.

The estate ruled both as a protection castle and as a robber baron castle over the trade roads and the northern route of the Anterior Palatinate section of the Way of St. James of Compostela.

Schloss Herten

Herten near Recklinghausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

Schloss Herrenchiemsee, Chiemsee, Bavaria, Germany

Herrenchiemsee is a complex of royal buildings on the Herreninsel, an island in the Chiemsee, Bavaria's largest lake, 60 km south east of Munich.

An Augustine Monastery Herrenchiemsee here was later converted into the Old Palace (Altes Schloss).

The Old Palace as later supplemented by the Herrenchiemsee Palace, also known as the New Palace (Neues Schloss), together the largest of King Ludwig II of Bavaria's palaces.

Schloss Hohenschwangau (Hohenschwangau Castle), Hohenschwangau, near the town of Füssen, part of the county of Ostallgäu in southwestern Bavaria, Germany.

It is located very close to the border with Austria.Germany

Hohenschwangau Castle (the name means High Swan County Castle) is a 19th-century palace in southern Germany.

It was built by his father, King Maximilian II of Bavaria and

was the childhood residence of the future King Ludwig II of Bavaria

Schloss Hohenzollern (Hohenzollern Castle)

72379 Burg Hohenzollern, Germany

Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, who became German Emperors

A castle was first constructed here in the early 11th century. The present castle was constructed for King Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867. The design was based on English Gothic Revival architecture and the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.

In 1945 it became home to the former Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, son of the last Hohenzollern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is buried there with his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie

Schloss Hohenzollern (Hohenzollern Castle), 72379 Burg Hohenzollern, Germany

Schloss Hohenzollern (Hohenzollern Castle)

72379 Burg Hohenzollern, Germany

Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, who became German Emperors

A castle was first constructed here in the early 11th century. The present castle was constructed for King Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867. The design was based on English Gothic Revival architecture and the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.

In 1945 it became home to the former Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, son of the last Hohenzollern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is buried there with his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie

Schloss Hohenzollern (Hohenzollern Castle)

72379 Burg Hohenzollern, Germany

Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, who became German Emperors

A castle was first constructed here in the early 11th century. The present castle was constructed for King Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867. The design was based on English Gothic Revival architecture and the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.

In 1945 it became home to the former Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, son of the last Hohenzollern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is buried there with his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie

Schloss Hohenzollern (Hohenzollern Castle)

72379 Burg Hohenzollern, Germany

Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, who became German Emperors

A castle was first constructed here in the early 11th century. The present castle was constructed for King Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867. The design was based on English Gothic Revival architecture and the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.

In 1945 it became home to the former Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, son of the last Hohenzollern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is buried there with his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie

Schloss Hohenzollern (Hohenzollern Castle)

72379 Burg Hohenzollern, Hechingen, Baden-Wurtemberg, Germany

Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, who became German Emperors

A castle was first constructed here in the early 11th century. The present castle was constructed for King Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867. The design was based on English Gothic Revival architecture and the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.

In 1945 it became home to the former Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, son of the last Hohenzollern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is buried there with his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie.

Schloss Hohenzollern (Hohenzollern Castle)

72379 Burg Hohenzollern, GERMANY

Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, who became German Emperors

A castle was first constructed here in the early 11th century. The present castle was constructed for King Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867. The design was based on English Gothic Revival architecture and the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.

In 1945 it became home to the former Crown Prince Wilhelm of GERMANY, son of the last Hohenzollern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is buried there with his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie

Schloss Hohenzollern (Hohenzollern Castle)

72379 Burg Hohenzollern, Germany

Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, who became German Emperors

A castle was first constructed here in the early 11th century. The present castle was constructed for King Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867. The design was based on English Gothic Revival architecture and the Châteaux of the Loire Valley.

In 1945 it became home to the former Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, son of the last Hohenzollern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who is buried there with his wife, Crown Princess Cecilie

Schloss Irmelshause

Irmelshausen, Höchheim, Rhön-Grabfeld, Bavaria, Germany.

Irmelshausen lies on the old border between East and West Germany. It is one of the most appealing castles in Franconia,

first mentioned in the year 800 when Emhild, the Abbess of Milz and a relative of Charlemagne, gave the associated village to the Counts of Henneberg.

The castle escaped attack and destruction in both the Peasants' War of 1525 and the Thirty Years' War of 1618-48 when almost all the surrounding castles were taken and sacked. Parts of the castle were previously taller but during a remodeling in 1854 the half-timbered sections were lowered to the present height.

Wasserschloss Klaffenbach, Wasserschloßweg 6, 09123 Chemnitz, Germany

Schloss Körtlinghausen, Körtlinghausen 4, 59602 Rüthen, Germany

Burg Kriebstein (Kriebstein Castle)

Kriebstein

near Waldheim

Saxony

Germany

Schloss Landsberg, Landsberger Straße 150, 98617 Meiningen, Germany

Schloss Lichtenstein (Lichtenstein Castle)

near Honau

Swabian Alb

Baden-Württemberg

Germany

Schloss Linderhof (Linderhof Palace), Bavaria, Germany.

Linderhof Palace is located near Ettal Abbey.in Southwest Bavaria.

It is the smallest of the three palaces built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and the only one he lived to see completed.

Schloss Mespelbrunn (Mespelbrunn Castle)

Mespelbrunn

Germany

Schloss Moritzburg (Castle Moritzburg)

Schloßallee, 01468 Moritzburg, Saxony, Germany

Moritzburg Castle is a Baroque palace in Moritzburg, in the German state of Saxony, about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) Northwest of Dresden.

The castle is named after Duke Moritz of Saxony, who had a hunting lodge built here between 1542 and 1546.

Schloss Moritzburg (Castle Moritzburg), Schloßallee, 01468 Moritzburg, Saxony, Germany

Moritzburg Castle is a Baroque palace in Moritzburg, in the German state of Saxony, about 13 kilometres (8.1 MI) Northwest of Dresden.

The castle is named after Duke Moritz of Saxony, who had a hunting lodge built here between 1542 and 1546.

Schloss Moritzburg (Castle Moritzburg), Schloßallee, 01468 Moritzburg, Saxony, Germany

Moritzburg Castle is a Baroque palace in Moritzburg, in the German state of Saxony, about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) northwest of Dresden.

The castle is named after Duke Moritz of Saxony, who had a hunting lodge built here between 1542 and 1546.

Neuschwanstein Castle

Above the village of Hohenschwangau, Bavaria, Germany.

Neuschwanstein Castle (Schloss Neuschwanstein), is a nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival palace. It was commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria as a retreat and as an homage to Richard Wagner. The palace was intended as a personal refuge but it was opened to the paying public immediately after his suspicious death in 1886. Since then more than 61 million people have visited Neuschwanstein Castle. The palace has appeared prominently in several movies and was the main inspiration for Disney’s Sleeping Beauty Castle.

Schloss Nordkirchen

Nordkirchen, Coesfeld administrative district, North Rhine Westphalia, Germany.

Schloss Nordkirchen is a palace, largely built between 1703 and 1734. It is known as the "Versailles of Westphalia" since it is the largest of the fully or partly moated Wasserschlösser in the region.

It was originally one of the residences of the Prince-Bishopric of Münster.

Schloss Nordkirchen (Nordkirchen Castle)

Coesfeld district

North Rhine Westphalia

Germany

Schloss Nordkirchen was originally one of the residences of the Prince-Bishops of Münster.

Burg Normannstein

99830 Treffurt

Wartburgkreis district

Thuringia

Germany

Schloss Nymphenburg, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

The Nymphenburg Palace ("Nymph's Castle"), is a Baroque palace once the main summer residence of the House of Wittelsbach (rulers of Bavaria)

Ceiling detail, Schloss Nymphenburg, Munich, Bavaria, Germany

The Nymphenburg Palace ("Nymph's Castle"), is a Baroque palace once the main summer residence of the House of Wittelsbach (rulers of Bavaria)

Schloss Nymphenburg 1, Festsaal, 80638 Munich, Germany

Burg Pfalzgrafenstein (Pfalzgrafenstein Castle)

Falkenau island, in the Rhine river

near Kaub

Germany

Pfalzgrafenstein is a toll castle on the Falkenau island, otherwise known as Pfalz Island.

Schloss Quedlinburg (Quedlinburg Castle)

Quedlinburg

( north of the Harz mountains)

Harz disrtrict

Saxony-Anhalt

Germany

Ortenberg Schloss, Ortenau, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Ortenberg Schloss, Ortenau, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany

Schloss Rastatt (Rastatt Palace), Herrenstraße 18-20, 76437 Rastatt, Germany

The palace and the garden were built between 1700 and 1707 by the Italian architect Domenico Egidio Rossi as ordered by Margrave Louis William of Baden.

Rumpenheimer Schloss

63075 Offenbach, Germany

Built 1678

Burg Satzvey (Satzvey Castle)

An der Burg 3,

53894 Mechernich

Nordrhein-Westfalen

Germany

Schwerin Castle

city of Schwerin

Germany

Sited on an island in the city's main lake, the Schweriner See

Schwerin Castle

city of Schwerin

Germany

Sited on an island in the city's main lake, the Schweriner See

Schwerin Castle

city of Schwerin

Germany

Sited on an island in the city's main lake, the Schweriner See

Schwerin Castle, Lennéstraße 1, 19053, Schwerin, Germany

Schwerin Castle is situated on an island in the city's main lake, the Schweriner See.

For centuries the palace was the home of the dukes and grand dukes of Mecklenburg and later Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

It currently serves as the seat of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Landtag (state parliament)

.

It is regarded as one of the most important works of romantic Historicism in Europe and designated to become a World Heritage Site.

Schloss Seehof

Domplatz 8, Memmelsdorf, 96049 Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany

The Seehof Palace was built from 1686 as a summer residence for the Prince-Bishops of Bamberg

Schloss Sigmaringen (Sigmaringen Castle)

Swabian Alb region

Baden-Württemberg

Germany

Sigmaringen Castle was the seat of government for the Princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Burg Stein (Stein Castle)

Stein 1, 08118 Hartenstein

Hartenstein

Saxony

Germany

Schloss Stolzenfels (Stolzenfels Castle)

Schlossweg

56075 Koblenz

Germany

Trausnitz Castle

Landshut, Bavaria, Germany

Trausnitz Castle is a medieval castle founded in 1204 by Duke Ludwig I. It was the home of the Wittelsbach dynasty, and served as their ducal residence for Lower Bavaria from 1255–1503, and later as the seat of the hereditary rulers of the whole of Bavaria (including of course King Ludwig II of Bavaria)

(This photograph shows just one corner of the palacial structure)

Trendelburg Castle, Steinweg 1, 34388 Trendelburg, Germany

One of Germany's best-preserved castles, located in the Wester Mountains near Kassel.

Chartered in 1301, Trendelburg held a strategic position, dominating trade roads from Frankfurt to Kassel and Hamburg.

Schloss Vetschau

Vetschau, Oberspreewald-Lausitzt, Brandenburg, Germany.

The Vetschau Castle is a castle built in the Renaissance style in the Spreewald Standing on a small rise, the three-storey buildings are grouped around a small rectangular courtyard. The present appearance of the castle, built from 1538, is due to alterations in the years 1860-1870. The tower is provided with a lantern crowned by a dome.

Burg Vischering (Vischering Castle)

Lüdinghausen

North Rhine-Westfalia

Germany.

Waldeck Castle

Dorweiler, Dommershausen, Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis, Rhineland-Palatinate. Germany.

William I of Heinzenberg built the fortress in 1150 establishing the house of "Boos-Waldeck". This was the main seat of the Hunsrück Family Boos.

The mediaeval castle saw several wars, and was partially destroyed by the French (1689) in the course of the Nine Years' War. The castle was in use until 1833 when the family of Boos von Waldeck sold its holdings in the Rhineland.

Wartburg

overlooking the town of Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany

The Wartburg is a castle originally built in the Middle Ages, situated on precipice. It was the home of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament of the Bible into German

It was an inspiration for Ludwig II when he decided to build Neuschwanstein Castle. Although the castle today still contains substantial original structures from the 12th through 15th centuries, much of the interior dates to the 19th-century period of Romanticism.

In 1999, UNESCO added Wartburg Castle to the World Heritage List

Schloss Wernigerod (Wernigerode Castle)

Harz mountains, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.

Wernigerode Castle is a castle located above the town of Wernigerode. The present-day building, finished in the late 19th century, is similar in style to Neuschwanstein Castle, though its foundations are much older.