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HOHENZOLLERN CASTLE
Black Forest Mountaintop Palace in the Clouds
Swabia
Germany is the region in southwest Germany between the Black Forest
and Bavaria along the
Upper Danube
River which flows eastward
through southern Germany toward Hungary. The Hohenzollern
family is one of the grand dynasties of Europe, once ruling over portions
of Swabia,
Bavaria,
Franconia and Prussia in Germany and connected by marriages and complicated
lineages to the British and Russian Royal families with the culmination
of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Germany’s last Emperor before the modern
era since WWI tended to level monarchies into the past of history (see
Berliner
Dom Hohenzollern
Crypt ).
The
ancestral castle of the Hohenzollern, sits high on a mountaintop – “the
Zoller hill” - overlooking the Danube Valley at the eastern edge
of the Black Forest, sometimes
shrouded in clouds
like a legendary mythical fairytale castle. The original
fortress
of the 11th Century was destroyed in the 1400’s. It was rebuilt
and expanded in the 1600’s in somewhat its current footprint, but
fell to disuse when the family moved to the more easily reached castle
palace in nearby Sigmaringen (see Schloss
Sigmaringen Castle). In the
early 1800s
the castle became a reconstruction project for a family history
enthusiast, Crown
Prince Frederick, recreated in a neo-gothic style, completed in 1867.
Aside
from a majestic castle outline on its mountaintop, often appearing
like an island in the sky
above
the clouds, one of the curious and unique
features of this grand landmark is the complex royal family genealogy
which the Kaiser Wilhelm II wallpapered onto the grand entry way, the “Ancestral
Hall” to
follow the family tree. Rare among castles is the circular driveway
to the Eagle
Gate obviously built for carriages in the 19th Century almost rather
like a modern parking structure to overcome the steep mountain approach
to the castle. Grand rooms and parlors fitting a royal palace, 
secret
medieval underground passageways only discovered in 2001, now display
family china and gold dishware and two coffins which once held the remains
of Frederick the Great and his son. And for more morbid curiosity, resting
on a hallway table are two deathmask molds of a couple of the family.
The Hohenzollern castle also holds the Royal Treasury of the Hohenzollerns.
The treasure
was
divided
in
a property dispute in the 1920’s, but the magnificent Royal Prussian
Crown (a replacement for an earlier original sold off piecemeal) can
be seen in a safe in the former castle kitchens turned into the treasury
room. There is an armor collection, but no comparison to that in the
other Hohenzollern family castle at Sigmaringen.
Visiting Hohenzollern Castle
The Hohenzollern Castle at Hechingen in Baden-Wurttemburg is about an hour south of Stuttgart and one and a half hours from Munich. Guided group tours are available for 11 Euro for adults. The grounds and secret tunnels for half that. If you park in the lower parking lot take the shuttle bus for 2.60 Euro round trip. The hiking path up the hill is quite steep and long. There is a restaurant below the castle, the “Burgschenke”. © Bargain Travel Europe
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Hohenzollern Castle
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