Zwingenberg Castle

The spur castle was built on a hill spur in the triangle formed by the confluence of the steep Wolfschlucht gorge with the Neckar valley and lies about 50 metres above the river.

The castle was probably built in the 13th century by the Hohenstaufen ministerialis, William of Wimpfen. The first record of it dates to the year 1326. A nephew of William of Wimpfen called himself von Zwingenberg. Because the Zwingenbergs were robber knights, in 1363 they were driven from the castle and it was slighted in the name of the emperor. In 1403, the Lord of Hirschhorn was enfeoffed with the Zwingenberg and had it rebuilt. After his line had died out, ownership switched between the Electorate of Mainz, Electorate of the Palatinate and the Grand Duchy of Baden. The lord of the castle today is Louis (Ludwig), Prince of Baden (born 1937), a descendant of Grand Duke Charles Frederick of Baden.

Above Zwingenberg Castle are the remains of Fürstenstein Castle.

Zwingenberg around 1850

Zwingenberg Castle from the south (2015)

• Jochen Pressler: Burgen und Schlösser im Rhein-Neckar-Dreieck. Alles Wissenswerte über 126 Burg- und Schloßanlagen in Nordbaden, Südhessen und der Vorderen Pfalz. 3rd expanded and revised edition. Schimper, Schwetzingen, 1996, ISBN 3-87742-097-4. pp. 98f
• Jochen Goetze (text) and Werner Richner (photography): Burgen im Neckartal. Braus, Heidelberg, 1989, ISBN 3-925835-52-0. pp. 44ff
• Heinrich Niester: Die Instandsetzungsarbeiten auf der Burg Zwingenberg am Neckar, Rhein-Neckar-Kreis. In: Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg, 2nd annual, 1973, Issue 2, p. 18–27. (pdf; 9.2 MB)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Burg Zwingenberg (Baden).

• Official website of the Zwingenberg Schloss
• Official website of the Schloss Festival, Zwingenberg
• Zwingenberg Castle at burgenwelt.de
• Schloss Zwingenberg on a private website
• Entry at Krieger
• Zwingenberg Castle at Schlösser und Burgen in Baden-Württemberg