Willibaldsburg Castle, Eichstätt, Germany

The castle complex on the Willibaldsberg was begun in 1355 and extended in the second half of the 16th century under Martin von Schaumberg. It was transformed into an impressive residence by Elias Holl during the reign of Prince-Bishop Johann Conrad von Gemmingen (1595-1612) – at this stage of the building's history the towers were crowned by onion domes.

Gemmingen also laid out the renowned botanical garden Hortus Eystettensis. Based on the copperplate engravings illustrating the plant collection which were created in 1613 by Basilius Besler, the Bastion Garden opened in 1998 reproduces the plant world of the original botanical garden.

References:

Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung

User Reviews

Eternal Voyageur (6 months ago)
Take at least 1-2 hours for the main museum. The fossils are fantastic, with some very special specimens like the world famous Archeopteryx. The reviews that said it's boring probably expected Disneyland.

maxim vincent (2 years ago)
Very interesting museum on a nice location!

Mauricio Villegas (2 years ago)
Great fish, squid, and early birds. Probably best I have ever seen

raptorstorm1 (3 years ago)
A collection of incredibly well preserved Jurassic fossils all kept in a charming medieval castle. Highly recommend visiting if you're in the area. Be sure to see the Eichstätt archaeopteryx.

Scott Winters (3 years ago)
A fantastic museum with many fossils you won’t see anywhere else, especially the Eichstatt Archeaopteryx specimen! An absolute must for anyone interested in paleontology!

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Photo from Flickr, copyright Zvonimir Hrvoj

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Willibaldsburg Castle

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