Burg Jungnau

Burg Jungnau stands on a rocky hill about 620 metres above sea level in the centre of Jungnau, a district of Sigmaringen. It began as a castle built by Burkhard von Jungingen next to the older Burg Schiltau and first appears in records from 1333. By the 15th century the counts of Werdenberg held it, and from 1534 until 1806 it belonged to the Fürstenberg family. During those centuries it served as the seat of the district governor and the palace was remodelled. In the 19th century the upper part of the tower was removed and the palace itself largely demolished, leaving only the keep. What remains is the massive keep, sixteen metres tall on an eight-and-a-half-metre square base with walls three metres thick. The entrance is reached by a pointed arch twelve metres above ground, and the original timber-framed upper storey was removed in 1844. Beside the keep once stood the medieval great hall and later the palace wing, while near the present vicarage the granary’s foundations still show a few bossed stones. Today the keep is known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Turm. The hilltop offers views over Jungnau and the surrounding countryside. The church of St Anna stands close by, and the old granary site lies just below the vicarage. The single surviving tower is a quiet reminder of the castle’s past importance as a seat of power for successive noble families.