Details
Founded: 1782Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Germany
Historical period: Emerging States (Germany)
User Reviews
Hohenheim Palace was built in 1782 by Duke Karl Eugen of Württemberg. Today it is the site of Stuttgart's oldest university, the University of Hohenheim.
After the duke had acquired the former manor of the Bombast von Hohenheim family, minor nobility - with Theophrastus von Hohenheim called Paracelsus as its most notable member - in 1768, he gave it to his mistress Franziska Leutrum von Ertingen. From 1772 Karl Eugen had the manor house rebuilt as a water castle surrounded by an extended English garden featuring several midget replicas of historic buildings, an arboretum and numerous exotic plants. The construction of the present-day palace started in 1782 but discontinued with the duke's death in 1793.
In 1818 King William I of Württemberg established an agricultural school at Hohenheim, the predecessor of today's university. Today the gardens comprise the Landesarboretum Baden-Württemberg and the Botanischer Garten der Universität Hohenheim.
References:Sigmaringen Castle was first mentioned in the year 1077 in the chronicles of Petershausen monastery. The oldest parts of the castle are concealed beneath the alterations made during the 17th and the 19th centuries. The secret of the earliest settlement built on this defendable rock will never be fully revealed: large-scale excavation work would be necessary, which the extensive land development renders impossible. Judging from the many Roman remains unearthed in the area around Sigmaringen, the 12th century keep known as the 'Roman Tower' could be traced back to a Roman predecessor.
The castle remains that have been preserved (gate, great hall and keep) date back to the Staufer period around 1200. The castle remains were integrated into subsequent buildings. The foundations of the castle buildings are to a large extent identical to the surrounding castle wall.
These remains give us a good idea of how the castle might have looked during the 12th century.