Schloss Bissingen

Schloss Bissingen stands on a rise above the market town of Bissingen in Bavarian Swabia. It is a three-storey rectangular building with a pitched roof and scroll-shaped gables, its corners marked by square towers that become octagonal at the top floor. The church beside it is just as tall, so both landmarks can be seen from far across the surrounding farmland. The place grew from a medieval noble seat first recorded in 1140. By the mid-16th century it belonged to the mercenary commander Sebastian Schertlin von Burtenbach, who built the present castle for his son. The castle passed through several noble families: the counts of Oettingen, the Bemelbergs, and finally the princes of Oettingen-Wallerstein in 1661. For more than a century it served as a dowager residence for widowed princesses. Until 1971 it housed the princely forest office. Today the main building, the inner courtyard with its outbuildings, and two round towers known as the Schertlin towers survive from the 16th-century complex. The castle remains privately owned but since 2013 it has hosted an annual series of concerts called punkt5, drawing international performers. Visitors approach through the market square and climb the gentle slope to the castle gate. Inside the courtyard the stone buildings enclose a quiet space where concerts are held in summer. The two Schertlin towers frame the scene, their octagonal tops catching the light. Beyond the walls the roofs of Bissingen stretch out, and on clear days the Danube valley appears in the distance. The building’s simple lines and the orderly arrangement of its parts give a sense of the castle’s long history without any need for elaborate decoration.