Staufen Castle

Staufen Castle is a medieval castle ruin on the 590 m above sea level eponymous Staufen mountain on the northeastern outskirts of Hilzingen, a municipality in the district of Konstanz, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

From about 1269 until the 15th century, the conical mountain and castle complex were held as a fief by the Lords of Homburg, partly as a fief of the Counts of Hohenberg, until these were taken over by the Dukes of Austria in 1381. In 1499, the Confederates burned down the castle in the Swiss War, and in the Thirty Years' War, the castle was finally destroyed: the troops of Konrad Widerholt, the commander of Hohentwiel Fortress, demolished the interior and in 1638 the castle buildings. In 1641 and 1644, the demolished castle again played a role as headquarters for the besiegers of Hohentwiel Fortress.