Höfingen Castle

Schloss Höfingen stands on the edge of Höfingen, a district of Leonberg in the Böblingen district of Baden-Württemberg. The present building began in the 16th century on the remains of a medieval castle. Its north side rises three storeys above three solid basements, while the south side is entirely of solid masonry. A stone stair-tower with a spiral staircase opens from the courtyard, and a pitched roof with a stepped gable crowns the whole.

The castle’s history is tied to the Truchsessen von Höfingen, an aristocratic family first recorded here in 1140. Their medieval castle was destroyed in 1395 during the Schlegler War when Count Eberhard the Mild ordered its demolition. In 1582 the present Renaissance-style palace was built on the old foundations, and the northern moat was filled in. After the Truchsessen line died out in 1711, the estate passed to Württemberg’s General von Mützschefahl, then in 1826 to the Varnbüler barons, who added the central section with its terrace and watch-tower in the 19th century.

Today the castle houses a hotel and restaurant. The south façade still shows the original 16th-century fenestration, while the south tower and crenellated terrace parapet date from the 19th-century remodelling. The Glemstal valley stretches below, and the old stone stair-tower remains in daily use.