Neidenstein Castle

En un regard

Le château en bref

Clinging to a spur of the Galgenberg above the Schwarzbach valley, Neidenstein Castle, in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, is one of the best-preserved castles of the Kraichgau and has remained in the hands of the von Venningen family since the Middle Ages. Mentioned in 1319 as an imperial fief of Friedrich von Venningen, it retains a 13th-century core dominated by a 25 m keep and an 11 m shield wall, protected by a wide ditch, a curtain wall flanked by towers, and a zwinger (outer defensive ward). Two residential buildings stand side by side: the older one, to the west, now reduced to a ruin, and the more recent one, in Late Gothic style, still inhabited, with a knights' hall decorated with remains of wall paintings dated 1516. The outer bailey, known as the "Neues Schloss", lines up two half-timbered Renaissance buildings, including the manor house with a stair turret built in 1538 by Erasmus von Venningen. The castle can only be partly visited; the hunters' house holds a local museum and the complex hosts concerts and cultural events.