Untergreifenstein Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Allemagne entière

Above the deep Holzelfingen valley on the edge of the Swabian Alb, two medieval castles bore the name Greifenstein. The older one, Untergreifenstein, was built in the 12th century by the lords of Greifenstein on a narrow rock at about 755 metres, some 150 metres west of its younger twin, Obergreifenstein, erected a few decades later. Together they watched over the surrounding valleys. The family is first recorded in 1187, when a Bertholdus de Grifinstain witnessed a charter of Duke Frederick VI of Swabia. Both castles were destroyed in 1311 during the Imperial War and belonged to Württemberg by 1355. Today only modest wall remains and ditches survive at Untergreifenstein.