Klingenstein Castle

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Alb-Donau-Kreis

Perched at an altitude of about 553 metres on a rocky spur overlooking the Blau valley, Klingenstein Castle stands in the district of the same name in the municipality of Blaustein, not far from Ulm. It occupies the site of the northern stronghold of an older medieval castle, of which remains survive to the south and west. In 1756, Baron Franz Maria Anton von Bernhausen had the present residence built on the foundations and cellars of this stronghold. The estate passed to Bavaria in 1803. Slated for demolition, the small castle was bought in 1860 by the Ulm apothecary Gustav Ernst Leube, a founding figure of the German cement industry, who had a western cross wing pulled down. The building then became the summer residence of the Leube-Schall family. The main residential building surrounds an inner courtyard and houses the Chapel of the Holy Trinity. The ceiling stuccowork, the staircase and the chapel are Rococo, and the altarpiece is the work of Johann Baptist Enderle of Söflingen. Still inhabited, the castle has been maintained since 1974 by the Leube Foundation. The courtyard and the ruins remain open to visitors.