Schloss Hegne

Schloss Hegne stands beside the village of Hegne, a short distance from Lake Constance in southern Germany. The building began as a medieval stronghold, later becoming a Renaissance summer palace for the bishops of Constance. Its two corner towers and octagonal stair turret still show the outline of that earlier age. The bishops enlarged the estate, adding a park and menagerie before the Thirty Years War brought plunder in 1642. After secularisation in 1803 the castle passed through various hands, from the Grand Duchy of Baden to a Basel trading firm and finally to a welfare association that opened a children’s home. In 1879 the industrialist Werner de Weerth remodelled the interior in neo-Renaissance style, raising ceilings and adding a winter-garden loggia. Today the castle forms part of a larger convent complex run by the Sisters of Mercy. Inside, modernised rooms surround a new chapel carved into the cellar, while outside the park and lake views remain little changed. The crypt below the nearby church holds the relics of Blessed Ulrika, drawing pilgrims to the site.