En un regard
Le château en bref
Blumenfeld Castle crowns an isolated limestone knoll, bounded by a meander of the Biber, some 40 m above the valley. It overlooks the small town of Blumenfeld, which belongs to Tengen, in the Hegau. The origins lie in a medieval fortification, probably predating 1100, consisting of a keep and a fortified courtyard. A branch of the lords of Blumberg resided there at the end of the 13th century. The site then passed to the Bodmans, and subsequently to the Klingenbergs. In 1488 it was acquired by the Mainau commandery of the Teutonic Order. The Confederates destroyed it during the Swabian War in 1499. The Order rebuilt it in 1514–1515 on the foundations of the former palace, dates confirmed by dendrochronology, and then added a second wing around 1578–1582. Until 1805, the castle served as the residence of the Order's bailiffs for the lordships of Blumenfeld and Tengen. It then became a building of the Baden administration, serving first as a district office and then as a court until 1864, before housing an institution for poor children. From 1876, an association of municipalities installed a hospice and a hospital there. Left empty in the 1970s, it was saved by local residents, who devoted some 5,000 hours of voluntary work to it, and was subsequently restored with the help of the regional monuments office. Since 2021, it has hosted a community project combining a co-working space, shared housing and a café.
