Hohenneuffen Castle

Hohenneuffen Castle stands on a high rock above the town of Neuffen in the Swabian Alb. The ruined fortress rises 743 metres above sea level, commanding views across three states. Its late Jurassic rock has been a landmark for two thousand years, first as a Celtic sacred site. The castle itself was built in the early 12th century by Mangold von Sulmetingen and later passed to the Counts of Württemberg. By the 16th century Duke Ulrich had strengthened it with round towers, bastions and casemates. The castle played a key role in regional conflicts from the Reichskrieg of 1312 to the Thirty Years’ War. It resisted peasant revolts in 1525 and withstood a year-long siege in 1634–35. Later it became a prison where figures such as Joseph Süß Oppenheimer were held before execution. In 1948 the prime minister Reinhold Maier chose the summit for a secret conference that led to the creation of Baden-Württemberg in 1952. Visitors walk among the remains of towers and casemates open to the public. A restaurant and beer garden occupy part of the upper bailey. The mountain hosts a fell race each June and medieval markets in summer. From the top, wide views stretch across the former occupation-zone border. The site is free to enter and offers a quiet place to explore history and landscape.