Top 17 Castles around Ettlingen

Beautiful view of Schloss Gottesaue, which houses the University of Music.

Unfortunately it is still scaffolded at the moment... so a visit to the top is not possible

The baroque castle was largely rebuilt between 1955 and 1966 after it was destroyed in World War II. Today it houses the State Museum. The 165 steps of the 42-meter-high tower lead to the viewing platform, from which you have a magnificent view of the Palatinate Forest and parts of the Black Forest.

In 1094 the Benedictine Abbey Gottesaue was founded by Count Berthold von Hohenberg. The monastery was looted and damaged by fire in 1525. Margrave Ernst Friedrich von Baden-Durlach had a castle built on the site from 1588 to 1597 according to the plans of Johannes Schoch. In 1689 the castle was destroyed by fire during the War of the Palatinate Succession and was poorly repaired. After another fire in 1735, it was rebuilt lower in 1743 and used by the Kammergut as a fruit store. In 1818 the building became a barracks and in 1919 it became a tenement building.

The historic old town of Ettlingen impresses with its narrow streets, beautiful cafés and historic houses next to modern city architecture. Ettlingen Castle rises in the middle of the old town, the oldest parts of which go back to a medieval castle that was converted into a representative Renaissance complex in the 16th century. Ettlingen is always worth a visit.

The gateway to the northern Black Forest with its old town, the many cafés, the town hall square, the castle, the stock of well-kept old half-timbered houses, the gastronomy (especially the Vogelbräu brewery) and many other highlights are a must-see. Even the longest journey is worthwhile. Of course there is also an excellent hotel business, --- and castle festivals, the Alb, the Bismarkturm and and.....

The old town of Ettlingen is located in the center of town and, in addition to a beautiful view of the Alb or adjacent old buildings and bridges, offers various starting points for hungry mouths. Cafes, restaurants and drugstores are located in the city and fill up stomachs and supplies. The nearby Vogelbräu is always worth a visit. The nearby city garden invites you to linger and the main station is only a stone's throw away for tired legs.

Gottesaue Castle was designed by the then Strasbourg town architect Johannes Schoch (1550 - 1631) and was conceived as a "pleasure house". Since its completion, it has experienced an extremely eventful history. After initial destruction in the Palatinate War of Succession in 1689, it burned down to its outer walls in 1735. Since the Margraves of Baden-Durlach had no interest in this castle immediately after the city of Karlsruhe was founded, it was rebuilt in a reduced form with a two-storey building and three-storey towers and served over the next two centuries, first as a fruit store for the Margrave's estate, from 1818 as a barracks, later for the police, before it was destroyed in a bombing raid in May 1944. For almost four decades, the ruins of the castle reminded us of the horrors of the war, before it was rebuilt in 1982 for the purposes of the Karlsruhe University of Music. The exterior was reconstructed in such a way that the changes experienced in its history remain visible, while the interior is a modern building for use as a modern music college, which nevertheless contains modern interpretations of allusions to Renaissance architecture. Source and further information: https://www.karlsruhe-erleben.de/media/attraktionen/Schloss-Gottesaue#/article/b71055a9-9043-454f-9d52-87d777fb0c05