Schloss Wiser

Schloss Wiser stands in Leutershausen, a hamlet of Hirschberg on the Bergstraße in the Rhine-Neckar district of Baden-Württemberg. It occupies the site of an earlier noble estate destroyed in 1688, which the local count bought in 1704. The present building was erected in 1710 by the Vorarlberg master-builder Johann Jakob Rischer in an upper-Italian style blending late Renaissance and early Baroque. Its south-facing façade still shows the warm tones and decorative details of that period. High walls enclose the property, giving it the feel of a small fortified manor. The counts of Wiser added a Loreto chapel in the inner courtyard in 1737, housing a copy of the Black Madonna of Leutershausen. The original image was moved in 1907 to the new parish and pilgrimage church of St Johannes Baptist in the village. Beyond the chapel lies the enclosed Schlossgarten, laid out with statues and gravel walks. The garden remains private, but once a year it becomes the stage for a major event. Every 15 August the annual Assumption Day pilgrimage winds through the village and into the Schlossgarten. Thousands of candles light the procession as it passes between the garden’s statues. The route ends in the castle courtyard before the Loreto chapel, where a short service is held. Though the house itself is lived in and closed to visitors, the garden and the evening spectacle belong to the community and to pilgrims from far beyond.