Schloss Sulzburg

Schloss Sulzburg stands in the small town of Sulzburg, on the edge of the Upper Rhine plain in the Markgräflerland. The surviving part of the former margravial residence is a T-shaped complex of two wings: the grand hall and the stables. It occupies the southern corner of the old town centre, directly beside the market square. The main façade of the hall faces the square, where an octagonal fountain from 1747 marks the heart of the town. The complex is worth visiting because it preserves a rare example of a Renaissance margravial residence. Markgraf Ernst I decided in 1515 to move his court to Sulzburg, and building began in 1527. Later expansions under Markgraf Georg Friedrich between 1599 and 1604 turned it into a substantial palace. The surviving hall wing still shows the mark of Georg Friedrich and his wife Juliane Ursula through a carved figure of a ‘Wild Man’ with their coats of arms. The site also witnessed the town’s brief golden age before war and fire destroyed most of the palace in the 17th century. Visitors find the sturdy ground floor of the hall built over a two-aisled wine cellar with six ribbed vaults. Above, the single upper storey once held a grand festival hall at least 22 metres long and 12.5 metres wide. The hall’s wooden segmental barrel vault, a rare construction for the time, was suspended from the roof frame. The adjoining stable wing, also long and low, once housed horses on the ground floor and princely chambers above. Today the buildings belong to the town and frame the market square, linking past and present in the quiet streets of Sulzburg.