Hohenzollern Castle

Hohenzollern Castle is the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern. The 1/3 of 3 hilltop castles built on the site, it's miles positioned atop Mount Hohenzollern, above and south of Hechingen, on the threshold of the Swabian Jura of primary Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. The first fort on the mountain became built in the early 11^th century. Over the years the House of Hohenzollern split several times, however the citadel remained inside the Swabian branch, the dynastic seniors of the Franconian-Brandenburgian cadet branch that later obtained its own imperial throne.

This castle become completely destroyed in 1423 after a ten-month siege with the aid of the free imperial cities of Swabia. The 2^nd fortress, a bigger and sturdier structure, become made from 1454 to 1461, which served as a refuge for the Catholic Swabian Hohenzollerns, which include for the duration of the 30 Years' War.

By the quit of the 18th century it changed into idea to have misplaced its strategic importance and progressively fell into disrepair, main to the demolition of numerous dilapidated homes. The 0.33, and modern, castle turned into constructed among 1846 and 1867 as a own family memorial by Hohenzollern scion King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Architect Friedrich August Stüler based totally his layout on English Gothic Revival architecture and the Chateaux of the Loire Valley.