Top 4 Castles in Bielefeld

This is perhaps the really special thing: For 3 euros entry, climb 121 steps and then enjoy the view from the very top.

Small paths lead within the walls around the actual castle complex.

The most famous landmark of Bielefeld in the Teutoburg Forest stands high above the university town: the Sparrenburg is located around 60 metres above the city centre on the 180-metre-high Sparrenberg. Visitors can admire the castle from below and then enjoy the view from above once they have climbed the 37-metre-high castle tower. From here, the view extends not only over the city, but also far into the surrounding area of the Teutoburg Forest. The history of the impressive castle complex goes back to the 13th century. The thick stone walls, dark dungeons and narrow light shafts tell us a lot about the lives of medieval people and the soldiers who defended the castle and city from enemy conquests. On guided tours, visitors can learn even more exciting things about life at the Sparrenburg, whose fortifications, which are still visible today, date back to the 16th century. Every year on the last weekend in July, the Sparrenburg Festival attracts numerous visitors to the castle. The fortress is then transformed into the historical backdrop of a medieval castle spectacle. Jugglers, minstrels, traders and knights take visitors back to times long past. Other events such as crime dinners, readings and culinary walks are also offered throughout the year. The Sparrenburg is particularly well located for hikers: one of the most beautiful high-altitude hiking trails in Germany, the Hermannsweg, leads right past it. For hikers who just want to stop by for a quick visit, a stroll through the above-ground part of the castle complex is a good option, and can be visited free of charge. Source: https://www.nrw-tourismus.de/schloesser-burgen/sparrenburg

The Great Elector is a statue unveiled in 1900 in honor of Elector Frederick William (1620–1688) on the Sparrenburg in the East Westphalian city of Bielefeld. It is a gift from Emperor Wilhelm II to the city of Bielefeld. It is the first erected version of a work by the sculptor Fritz Schaper. It is part of the figure program that was erected between 1895 and 1901 on Berlin's Siegesallee. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Der_Gro%C3%9Fe_Kurf%C3%BCrst_(Denkmal_auf_der_Sparrenburg)

The statue of the Great Elector Frederick William, erected in 1900 on the Sparrenburg, is a reproduction of the statue that Kaiser Wilhelm II had erected by Fritz Schaper on the Siegesallee in Berlin's Tiergarten. Today it stands with other Siegesallee statues in the Spandau Citadel. The Bielefeld statue in the inner courtyard of the Sparrenburg was erected in 1900 in the presence of Kaiser Wilhelm II, the (nominally) last Count of Ravensberg. The Peace of Westphalia in 1648 confirmed Bielefeld's affiliation to Brandenburg-Prussia. In the following years, Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg, the Great Elector, stayed at the fortress several times. It served as his secondary Westphalian residence. Two of his children were born here.

In the course of the castle romanticism of the 19th century, the "Comité for the Restoration of the Tower on the Sparenberge" was founded in Bielefeld and undertook the reconstruction of the tower, which took place in 1842/43. The lower part of the keep, which was still teardrop-shaped in plan, was built over with the new, now round observation tower. 121 steps lead up. The height of the tower is 45.2 meters to the top of the flagpole and 31.5 meters to the edge of the battlements. The arduous climb is rewarded with an XXL panoramic view of the city on the Teutoburg Forest. In good weather, the view extends as far as the Wiehen Hills.

The fortress in its state of 1741 is shown in the tactile model made from bronze by the artist Egbert Broerken of the Sparrenburg.

When more and more cannons and other firearms came into use after the invention of gunpowder, the old castle was expanded into an early modern fortress that could also withstand cannon fire and use its own cannons. Around 1530, a gun tower (battery tower) was built to the west - connected to the actual castle only by a stone arch bridge - which now also made it possible to use its own cannons for defense.