Schloss Ummendorf

Schloss Ummendorf stands in the village of Ummendorf near Biberach an der Riß in the Tübingen administrative region. Built in the 16th century by Augsburg patrician Matthias Manlich, it was intended to display his social standing and help him rise into the nobility. Manlich bought the property from Weißenau Abbey in 1554 and began the new building soon after, with the roof dated to 1557–58. His heirs sold the unfinished residence to Ochsenhausen Abbey in 1565, describing it as a large, newly built house with a fine waterworks.

The Renaissance palace was nearly square, with two slender round towers at the western corners. Matthias Manlich planned a multi-wing layout and a three-part garden. Two side wings to the east were removed in the 19th century, but the enclosing wall and the surrounding garden remain. A baroque garden house was added to the western garden wall in 1739–40. Inside, the ground-floor entrance hall contains one of the best-preserved ribbed vaults in Oberschwaben. The first and second floors follow a standard Renaissance layout, and the roof structure from the 16th century is a three-storey truss with a central king-post section.

In the 18th century the castle was remodelled during the height of Upper Swabian baroque. The stonemason Gaspare Mohla worked here in 1729–30, creating a richly decorated ceiling in the first-floor hall with rocaille and strapwork, portrait heads and animal figures. The garden, probably laid out by Manlich, is divided into three parts typical of Renaissance gardens: an orchard, a vegetable garden and a pleasure garden. The ensemble also includes a small building called Bäule, first recorded in 1696–97, which has been altered several times. Today the state of Baden-Württemberg owns the castle, which serves as a cultural centre for Ummendorf and hosts events organised by Biberach University of Applied Sciences.