En un regard
Le château en bref
The ruin of Konzenberg stands at an elevation of about 780 m on a wooded spur separating the Elta valley from the Krähenbach ravine, a few kilometres from Wurmlingen and Eßlingen, near Tuttlingen. This castle of Staufer period was probably founded by the Wartenberg free lords; at its first mention, in 1239, it already belonged to the Fürst family. In 1300, Konrad Fürst of Konzenberg sold it together with its dependencies to Bishop Heinrich II of Constance, who established the lordship of Konzenberg. Pledged in 1460 to the chapter of the Constance cathedral provostry, which became fully owner of it in 1614, the lordship was secularised in 1802–1803. The castle served for a time as a prison and housed a forester until 1816, before being sold in 1820 for demolition. Only the keep was spared: about 13 m high and almost square in plan, it is built of rusticated tuff blocks from the Hegau, a material foreign to the local limestone. The trapezoidal enceinte, the ditches and an outer work remain legible in the terrain. The ruin is freely accessible by a short forest path.