Höchstädt Castle

Höchstädt Castle in Höchstädt an der Donau is one of the valuable buildings from the German Late Renaissance.

The castle was built between 1589 and 1603 at the request of Count Palatine Philipp Ludwig of Palatinate-Neuburg, based on designs by Lienhart Grieneisen, by court architect Sigmund Doctor, as a three-story building on a rectangular floor plan with more than 120 rooms, dormer gables, stair towers, and the four round corner towers. The Gothic keep of a previous building was incorporated and deviates from the symmetry. The castle served as a widow's residence for Philipp Ludwig's wife Anna of Jülich-Kleve-Berg, who lived there from 1615 to 1632. In contrast to her son Wolfgang Wilhelm, she adhered to the Protestant faith, which the frescoes in the castle chapel still attest to today. Wall paintings from the period of its construction, stuccoed ceilings, and inlaid portals have been preserved in the rooms. The castle later served as a district court with prison cells and, during the Nazi era, for the Reich Labor Service, before restoration by the Bavarian Palace Department began in the 1980s. Since 2004, almost the entire castle has been restored and is accessible. Only the Duchess's sleeping quarters are still incomplete.