Castle of the Week 41 - Burg Hohenzollern
The Hohenzollern dynasty, from which German kings
and emperors arose, originated as a family of counts in Swabia in
the 11th or 12th century. They ruled Prussia and eventually
united and ruled Germany until the end of World War I. Their
strong, rigidly disciplined armies gave Prussia a reputation for
military excellence. The Hohenzollerns were named for their
ancestral castle, Zollern (later Hohenzollern). The castle
Hohenzollern is situated near the city of Hechingen at an
altitude of 855m on a high, conical hill (called the "Zollern")
in the Swabian Alb region of Baden-Wurttemberg, a state in
Germany.
In 1227 the Hohenzollern count Conrad III was
made burgrave of Nuremberg by Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor,
and the Hohenzollerns of Nuremberg formed a new branch of the
family, called the Franconian; the original line remained in
Swabia. The Hohenzollern-Hechingen line of the Swabian branch
became extinct in 1869. The Hohenzollern family was first
mentioned documentarily in 1061, the family-castle (Castro Zolre)
in 1267, although the oldest castle must have been built in the
first half of the 11th century. The appearance, size and
structure of this first castle are unknown, but according to a
Strasbourg chronicle it was the "crown of all castles in Swabia"
and "the most solid residence in the German realm".
Described as the strongest castle in Swabia, it
nevertheless was conquered and completely destroyed in 1423 after
a 10 month siege caused by a family dispute through a union of 18
Swabian imperial cities. The king of that time, Sigmund, forbade
the castle ever to be reconstructed. His successor, Emperor
Friedrich III, however, annulled this interdiction thirty years
later.
Count Jos Niklas of Zollern began to build the
second considerably larger castle in 1454 and it was finished by
his son, Eitel Friedrich II around 1500.
The Hohenzollern counts had expensive tastes and
caused their subjects much need and poverty. The bitterness
finally culminated in a series of revolts and rebellions starting
at the end of the 16th century that were suppressed with military
force. Nevertheless the unrest continued after the Thirty Years'
war.
During the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648) the castle was
extended into a fortification by the construction of bastions and
thus was considered to be impregnable. Despite that, the castle
changed hands several times and armies from Baden-Wurttemberg and
Sweden 
managed to occupy the castle in 1634
after a 9 months' siege by starving the garrison. Although they
did not destroy the castle, none of the subsequent owners felt
responsible for preserving the buildings, so it fell into ruins.
This was also due to the fact that it lost its military
importance after 1744.
Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, later
King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, from the Nuremberg branch of the
family, decided in 1819 that he would rebuild the old
Hohenzollern seat. The new Hohenzollern castle was built in
romantic Neo-Gothic style after 1850. The chapel of St Michael
built in the 15th century is the only remaining building from the
old castle. The newly built castle consists of two parts: the
palace, with its many towers, and the fortifications.
After World War II, Prince Louis Ferdinand of
Prussia started to furnish the castle with exquisite pieces of
art from the 17th to 19th centuries showing the history of
Prussia and of the Hohenzollern family. The castle still is
private property belonging to the Hohenzollern (Prussian) family.
Until 1991, the protestant chapel of Christ the Lord housed the
coffins of King Friedrich Wilhelm I (1688-1740) and King
Friedrich II (the Great) (1712-1786) 
who originally had been buried in the Garnison
church of Potsdam. In 1991 the coffins were returned to Potsdam.
The Royal Prussian Crown is the central piece of the treasury of
the castle.
The castle was almost destroyed a third time. During an earthquake on 3rd September 1978 it suffered major damage, with the repairs costing about ten million german D-Marks.
Write-up provided by Hanarky. Pictures courtesy of Burg Hohenzollern
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