Zuzenhausen Castle Ruins

En un regard

Le château en bref

At the southern exit of Zuzenhausen, in the Rhein-Neckar district, the castle ruins cling to a hillside at an altitude of about 160 m, above the Elsenz valley. Probably founded around 1250 by Ludwig von Huffnen and first mentioned in 1286, this hillside castle has an unusual pentagonal plan, protected on the uphill side by a mighty shield wall; it most likely never had a keep. Enlarged several times, it became in the mid-16th century a residence of the lords of Venningen, a leading family of the Kraichgau knighthood. The Zuzenhausen branch died out in 1637, but the fortress remained in the family. It was devastated in 1643 by Bavarian troops during the Thirty Years' War, and again in 1689 by the French during the War of the Palatine Succession. Subsequently used as a quarry, it lost its last standing building in the 19th century; the fragile remains are now in danger of collapse.