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Historic site · Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg

Heidelberg Castle

Heidelberger Schloss

Heidelberg Castle is the red-sandstone ruin of the Electors Palatine's residence on the northern slope of the Königstuhl above Heidelberg's old town, run by the state heritage agency Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg.

Why go

This record is the castle ruin and its garden, the former residence of the Palatine counts and Electors. Its operator, Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg, says French troops blasted its walls in the 17th-century wars, that the Electors moved their residence to Mannheim in the 18th century, and that the provisionally repaired buildings burned out after two lightning strikes in 1764. It says that around 1900 it was decided to preserve the castle as a ruin, with only the Friedrich's Wing completed and refurnished. The operator's visitor page says the castle interiors can be seen only on a guided tour, and that the castle ticket includes the funicular railway, the courtyard, the Great Tun and the German Apothecary Museum, an exhibition in the basement of the Ottheinrich's Wing. Opening times and admission are set by the operator, so check its site before you go.

Base yourself nearby

City

Heidelberg

Heidelberg is a city on the Neckar in Baden-Württemberg. The city's own site says it was first documented in 1196, was laid out to a plan and had its castle built in the 13th century, and entered its heyday as capital of the Electoral Palatinate, not least with the founding of its university in 1386; XTOUR maps Heidelberg Castle, the Old Bridge and the Church of the Holy Spirit in the city.

Near Heidelberg Castle

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