Obermönsheim Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Enzkreis

Obermönsheim Castle stands on a steep slope above the Grenzbach valley, about a quarter of an hour south-west of the village of Mönsheim in the Enzkreis district. Formerly a fief held from the Margraves of Baden, the estate was granted in the 16th century to the von Rieppur family, enfeoffed in 1584 by Margrave Ernst Friedrich, and passed by marriage to the barons von Phull-Rieppur in the late 18th century. In 1806 the overlordship was transferred to Württemberg. In the 19th century the castle, rebuilt in a plain style on old foundations, kept a corner oriel and traces of a deep moat once crossed by a drawbridge. Badly damaged by fire in 1917-1918, it was acquired in 1920 by Nicolai von Gaisberg-Schöckingen, whose family still runs this private forestry estate.