10+ Photos of an Abandoned German Castle

There is something quite special about venturing into an abandoned place. Marveling at what the spoils of a long-lost past are still hiding, and perhaps trying to picture how the settings would have looked like at the very prime of a location’s “lifespan”. One can’t help but mentally wander off into such feelings when checking a certain German castle that has been abandoned for quite some time now. Still, the premises are incredibly fascinating, sparking curiosity and many questions concerning the place’s rich and sadly forgotten history.

This place is so intensely interesting and unique that it feels wrong to divulge so much about it. Therefore, the identity of the site and its surroundings shall remain a guarded secret: it’s not my place to spoil such a wonderfully intimate experience, but it’s my mission to tell a story, for the sake of the many places just like this castle, which can be found all over Europe. The castle has a very long and deeply rooted history, which dates back to the 1200s. This wasn’t exactly an easy time to be in Europe, which was actually a theatre of many disputes and conflicts, not to mention other catastrophic events like the black death. The castle managed to overcome some dark times, and to this day, it is still possible to admire the remains of the castle’s gothic aesthetics, which can still be seen through its southern side.

The castle continued to thrive for the next few centuries, to the point that it was actually expanded in 1584, becoming a much larger structure with two stories. The castle became a building typical of the renaissance era and was used as a permanent private residence for quite some time. However, it wasn’t too long before the castle had to go back to its original purpose, reworked into a fortress for fear of a peasant upheaval in the area. The strong, impenetrable facade of the new look of the castle lasted for quite some time: even in the 1700s, when the castle became private property, it still retained some of the pivotal elements of its late 1500s renovations and expansions.

By the 1800s, the castle became a landscape park and experienced even more renovation, embracing a more leisurely aesthetic style inspired by the net-baroque art and architectural movement that was so powerful at the time. As with many former castles and military fortresses that have managed to survive for so many centuries, it is always interesting to observe the kind of changes that the eras and time brogue on, and how the remnants of different ages still interact with each other in many ways, creating a unique identity profile of the place. Expansions and renovations in the neo-baroque style continued pretty much up until the 1920s, as the building acquired a really different look, essentially becoming a 3-wings complex with a beautiful courtyard and an extensive garden.

The second world war pulled the curtains on the castle’s thriving life, as the assets and the building were eventually expropriated, and the location even served as a wartime hospital during the conflict. To add to that, a later land reform policy in the country dictated that the castle was to become a community possession. It laid abandoned for quite some time, and although the castle is owned by private parties, it is still awaiting renovations.

From the middle ages to the renaissance, the turn of the century, and two world wars, this castle has seen some interesting and even trying times throughout its existence in southern Germany!

More photos of the abandoned German castle can be found below: