Liebenfels Castle (Lanzenneunforn)

Liebenfels Castle is located in the Swiss canton of Thurgau, southeast of Mammern, on the road to Lanzenneunforn, a district of Herdern.

The former castle and its builder Hermann I von Liebenfels were first mentioned in a document in 1254. The complex is thus documented as the seat of the Lords of Liebenfels, who were Konstanz ministerials. From 1395 to 1574, it was the seat of the Lanz von Liebenfels family. In 1654, the Cistercian monastery of St. Urban in the canton of Lucerne acquired the castle. After the secularization in 1848, Adolf Ludwig Follen, a patron of Gottfried Keller, bought it. In 1858, Kaspar Bebie acquired it. Liebenfels Castle served primarily in the 19th century as a meeting place for poets, such as Gottfried Keller and Hoffmann von Fallersleben.

From 1948 to 1992, the castle was uninhabited until it was renovated in 1992 by its owners Klaus W. Ebert and Christiane Ebert-Schnaufer. The current residents plan to make it available for spa events and international meetings.

The castle stands on a 230,350 square meter plot of land and essentially consists of a keep. To the north are a courtyard and residential buildings, to the south are extensions with stepped gables from the 16th century.