Schloss Rauenstein

Schloss Rauenstein is a neobarock villa built at the start of the 20th century on a hill called Rauhhalde east of Überlingen. It stands on a 2.68-hectare public park with a chestnut avenue along its eastern edge. The two-storey building has a high base course, side projections, pilaster quoins, cornices, window hoods, ornamental reliefs and two mansard roofs topped by a central spire visible from afar. After 1945 the grounds housed a French general and later the district governor Lindemann. The villa remained in private hands until 1950–51, then became a county property before passing to the Bodenseekreis in 1973. A farming school and agricultural office moved into the main building after renovation in 2003. The Akademie Schloss Rauenstein of Ravensburg-Weingarten University and the local chamber of commerce now share the rooms, while school branches occupy an annex. A fruit-learning path with regional apple varieties runs along the park’s southern slope. The city of Überlingen bought the villa from the Bodenseekreis in 2015 to keep the park open to the public. Since the university left in 2018 most of the building has stood empty. The park remains accessible, and the villa’s elaborate façade and spire still dominate the skyline above Überlingen.