Lower Castle of Alfdorf (Unteres Schloss)

Architecture, patrimoine et histoire · Landkreis Rems-Murr-Kreis

At the south-eastern edge of the village of Alfdorf, in the uplands of the Swabian Forest, the Unteres Schloss is the older of the locality's two castles. Built around the middle of the 16th century, it passed in 1628 to Georg Friedrich vom Holtz; the vom Holtz family made it their main residence until the middle of the 19th century and left their coat of arms there, visible on the entrance pavilion. The main residence, remodelled between 1686 and 1688 under the direction of Sebastian Vogt, is a massive three-storey stone building crowned with stepped gables; two projecting avant-corps enliven the courtyard façade, while a small rectangular oriel with a pavilion roof, probably former latrines, stands out on the garden side. Outbuildings to the north and west enclose a courtyard reached through a gatehouse of 1720, with a half-timbered upper floor and a large round-arched gateway. In the garden, the former pleasure pavilion and orangery, rebuilt in 1814, was converted into a brewery in 1834. The ensemble can be seen from the street, close to the Oberes Schloss.