Wales is known for it’s many castles, if you didn’t know shame on you! No, kidding. But, Wales is the country with the most castles on the planet, so if you love castles like we do that is definitely a place you should visit. However, Germany is also known for it’s beautiful fairy tale like castles. We’ve seen a couple on the way and for the Hohenzollern Castle we actually made a detour.
From far away you can see a hill with a huge building on top. The hill is surrounded by other hills but it’s clear that there is something to see over there. I can only wonder how it should’ve been back in the days, when you were not sitting in your van but on a horse. Probably with an army behind you and this castle was the one you wanted to take over. Strategically it’s located very nicely, on a hill overlooking kilometres and kilometres of area. It’s located on a steep hill with dense forests surrounding it so taking the castle wasn’t an easy task.
But that’s just speculating, we couldn’t enter the castle to learn more about it cause well Covid-19 shit and all. However, we’ve got Google.
History of the castle
The Hohenzollern House (house?!) dates back to 1061 as ‘Wezil et Burchardus de Zolorin’. In 1267 it was first mentioned as a castle complex and was called Castro Zolre. Apparently people praised the castle as ‘Crown of all castles in Swabia’ and ‘the most fortified house in Germany’. Nonetheless, the castle was completely destroyed in 1423. Anything destroyed can be rebuilt right? So, in 1454 the castle was rebuilt and constructed bigger and more fortified than before. During the thirty years war in Germany the castle knew many owners, during this period the maintenance of the building was neglected, so the castle dilapidated and turned into a ruin in the beginning of the 19th century.
In 1819 Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia decided to reconstruct the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern House.
So that’s the story of the castle. Nowadays the castle is preserved thanks to the admission fees, which are back to zero last year. Which is a pity. But while we were there they were working a lot on the castle so let’s hope they can preserve, renovate and maintain it well.
Liefs, Milene & Yuri
