Schloss Wolfegg

Schloss Wolfegg stands beside the small town of Wolfegg in Upper Swabia. This is a Renaissance castle built in the shape of a rectangle with four wings and corner towers. Truchsess Jakob II of Waldburg and his wife Johanna commissioned the design after a fire in 1578 destroyed the older building. Swedish troops under Carl Gustaf Wrangel burned parts of the castle again in 1646 during the Thirty Years’ War. The owner Maximilian Willibald lacked funds, so repairs only began in 1651. Later, the sculptor Balthasar Kimmer redesigned the main rooms between 1691 and 1700. The castle remains the home of the Waldburg-Wolfegg family and is usually closed to visitors. Once or twice a year public concerts allow limited access to the Rittersaal, a large Baroque hall with twenty-four life-sized wood sculptures and grand ceiling mirrors. The Denkmalstiftung Baden-Württemberg named the Rittersaal historic monument of the month in May 2016. The Wolfegger Kabinett inside the castle holds a notable collection of late medieval and Renaissance graphic art. Guided tours may also be offered during concert weekends. Inside, the Rittersaal impresses with its Baroque decoration and mirrored ceilings. The Wolfegger Kabinett preserves rare prints and maps from the 15th and 16th centuries. Among them is the famous 1507 Waldseemüller map that first used the name America. The historian Joseph Fischer rediscovered the map in the castle library in 1901. It once belonged to the Nuremberg cartographer Johannes Schöner before the Waldburg-Wolfegg family acquired it. The castle’s chapel was remodelled in Neo-Gothic style in the late 19th century.