Neues Schloss (Hechingen)

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Zollernalbkreis

In the heart of Hechingen, in the Zollernalbkreis district, the Neues Schloss is a neoclassical palace built in 1818-1819 for Prince Friedrich Hermann Otto of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. It replaced a Renaissance town residence begun at the end of the 16th century under Count Eitel Friedrich IV, some elements of which were reused by the architect Rudolf Burnitz, a pupil of Friedrich Weinbrenner. Funded by the French reparations obtained after the Congress of Vienna, the works stopped when the funds of the indebted principality ran out: the planned upper storey was never built, the interiors remained unfinished and the princely family hardly ever lived there. The building has three wings and a central projection articulated by Ionic pilasters and crowned by a pediment. Prince Konstantin later installed a temporary concert hall inside. Now occupied by the Sparkasse Zollernalb, it faces the Old Castle, home of the Hohenzollerisches Landesmuseum.