Burgstall Weißenburg

The Burgstall Weißenburg stands on a northern spur 380 metres above sea level, overlooking the Neue Weinsteige from the garden behind the former Villa Weißenburg in Stuttgart’s Weißenburgpark. The site lies about 1,400 metres south of the city centre. Traces of the former castle remain only as faint earthworks and two neck ditches. The inner ditch encloses a roughly 35-by-15-metre mound, while the outer ditch marks the edge of a once larger outer bailey measuring about 50 by 40 metres. The old approach from the valley, the Burgstaig, can still be traced across the slope.

The castle’s origins go back before 1250, when the counts of Württemberg or possibly the margraves of Baden built it to guard Stuttgart’s southern approach. The first written mention comes in 1263, when Count Ulrich of Württemberg issued a charter ‘aput Wizenburc’ for Sirnau monastery. By 1270 the Württemberg ministeriales of Weißenburg appear in records, and in 1302 and 1312 Friedrich von Weißenburg, his wife Adelheid and their sons Diethelm and Konrad are named. A local legend claims Charlemagne once stayed here on his way to Italy, and that the castle’s white towers gave it its name.

Today the park contains the restored tea house and marble hall of the former Villa Weißenburg. A viewing platform on the mound offers a clear prospect over the park and the surrounding valley. Few visitors realise that beneath the lawn lie the remains of a medieval cellar filled with old chevaux-de-frise. The Burgstaig path still winds up from the valley, marking the route used by travellers centuries ago.