Lichtenberg Castle (Burg Lichtenberg)

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Landkreis Ludwigsburg

Perched above the Bottwar valley, Lichtenberg Castle is the emblem of the valley and is regarded as one of the best-preserved castles of the Staufer (Hohenstaufen) era in Germany. First mentioned in 1197, it was the seat of the lords who, at the end of the 13th century, took the name Hummel von Lichtenberg and ruled a small territory around Großbottwar. In 1357 the lordship was sold to Count Eberhard the Quarreller of Württemberg, who then held it as a fief of the Bohemian crown. Since 1483 the castle has belonged to the von Weiler family, whose major works in the 15th century gave it much of its present appearance. Arranged around a narrow courtyard are a late Romanesque palas built around 1200, a keep some thirty metres high with a raised entrance, and a chapel built around 1220–1230 that preserves wall paintings from the 13th and mid-14th centuries. Damaged by artillery in 1945 and renovated in 1956, the castle is still inhabited; the courtyard, keep and chapel can be visited on Sundays from April to November.