Old Castle

The Altes Schloss stands on Schillerplatz in Stuttgart, a former water castle first built in the 10th century to guard a mare garden. Counts of Württemberg made it their home in the 14th century, and later Dukes Christoph and Louis III remodelled it between 1553 and 1578. Blasius Berwart designed the equestrian staircase added in 1560, while the castle church and a conference room opened in 1562. The moat was filled in the 18th century, and the arcaded courtyard shows early Italian Renaissance motifs.

The castle church still holds services and contains the tombs of King Charles I of Württemberg and his wife Olga. Beneath the church lie the remains of Eberhard I, honoured by a monument in the inner courtyard. A museum on the Karlsplatz side remembers Claus von Stauffenberg, who lived in Stuttgart and tried to kill Hitler on 20 July 1944. The Landesmuseum Württemberg inside displays Stone Age and Roman finds alongside regional history paintings.

Visitors walk through the arcaded courtyard and enter the castle church for services. The Landesmuseum’s exhibits show artefacts from early settlements to the Roman era and later regional life. The monument to Eberhard I and the Stauffenberg memorial add layers of history. The castle’s outer walls and Renaissance courtyard frame views of Schillerplatz and the adjacent New Castle.