Schloss Wiesloch

Schloss Wiesloch stands in the town of Wiesloch in the Rhein-Neckar district of Baden-Württemberg. Its origins lie in a medieval castle built to protect a mining settlement south of the Leimbach stream. The oldest finds around the site date from the 10th century, and the castle’s enclosing wall shows late-12th- or early-13th-century stonework. The castle first appears in records in 1288, when it belonged to the Palatinate. In 1296 King Adolf held court there, and later Emperor Maximilian II visited in 1570. After the Thirty Years’ War the building was still largely intact, but in 1689 French troops destroyed it during the War of the Palatinate Succession. Only the great keep survived, later converted into a church bell tower. Today the main building is an 18th-century structure that once housed the district administration. A square stone tower tops the site, topped by a slate lantern and a patriarchal cross. The complex now serves as a police station, marking the end of its long administrative role.