Schloss Aldingen

Schloss Aldingen stands beside the Neckar in the town of Remseck, a Renaissance manor built in 1580. It began as the seat of the evangelical branch of the Kaltental family, who turned it into a small but stately residence. Later it became the village hall for more than a century before passing into private hands. The surviving buildings form a quiet courtyard with only the main house, the steward’s long house and a single medieval cellar still standing. The house is worth the journey for its two remarkable ceilings painted by Paul Ambrosius Reith in 1727. Reith had already worked for the Swabian knights’ district, and his frescoes here celebrate the Neckar’s importance and the family’s imperial status. The first ceiling shows the river god and the goddess Pax, framed by four putti for the seasons. The second depicts Diana meeting Prokris, surrounded by hunting scenes and four gilded eagles holding the imperial regalia. Visitors find the three-storey main building with its baroquely remodelled entrance and two painted rooms on the ground floor. The steward’s house on the north-west side now houses a restaurant, while the old barn cellar lies beneath another wing. The quiet courtyard opens to views of the Neckar valley, and the former schoolroom upstairs still recalls the building’s long civic life.