Liebenstein Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Allemagne entière

Set on a narrow ridge among vineyards one kilometre south of Neckarwestheim, Liebenstein Castle has overlooked the Neckar valley since the 13th century. It was built by the lords of Liebenstein on former lands of the Counts of Lauffen. Its core is a Romanesque limestone keep almost 30 metres high, dated by dendrochronology to the 1230s. In the 16th century the family turned the upper castle into a Renaissance residence and, around 1599, added a chapel with decorated gables modelled on the Stuttgart palace chapel. The House of Württemberg bought the estate in 1673 and 1678, and French troops plundered it in 1693. The municipality bought it in 1982 and restored it. Since 1985 the upper castle has housed a hotel and restaurant, a 27-hole golf course surrounds it, and visitors can climb the keep's 110 steps.