Merchingen Castle

Merchingen Castle is the largest contiguous castle complex in the Neckar-Odenwald district.
With the exception of the round tower, it was probably built at the same time as, for example, the castles in Jagsthausen or Bödigheim. The reason for the new construction of the castle was a division of inheritance in 1564, from which Johann Erasmus von Aschhausen and his wife Anna Katharina von Aschhausen, née von Reinberg, emerged as the new owners of the Merchingen estate. In various construction phases, the entire building (hall building, corner building, gate building and residential building) was erected over a construction period of approx. 27 years. The first year, 1566, can be found above a cellar entrance of the corner building. The residential building was demonstrably timbered in 1574/76. Above the main entrance (gate building) is the year of completion "1593" with the alliance coat of arms of the Aschhausen and Rheinberg families and the inscription (Cursed be the blood of him who squanders the estate). The marriage of the estate owners produced three daughters, who inherited the estate in equal parts. The daughter Maria Brigitta von Aschhausen bequeathed her third to her three daughters, so that each granddaughter now owned 1/9 of the Merchingen property. The granddaughter Marie Jakobe then married Johann Wolfgang von Berlichingen, who began to acquire the scattered ninths in 1649. His four sons, in turn, finally succeeded in buying back the last ninths in 1709, so that for the next 250 years the Merchingen estate belonged to the Lords of Berlichingen. In the years 1714 - 1717, extensive renovation measures took place under Johann Friedrich von Berlichingen and his wife Juliane von Gemmingen; the hall buildings and the residential buildings were extended upwards.

In 1964, the municipality of Merchingen exchanged the hall building and the farm buildings located along the castle garden for approx. 4 hectares of forest. The farm buildings (barns and stables) were demolished in 1965. The "Förderverein Schlossausbau" (Castle Expansion Support Association), founded in 1982 by local mayor Emil Otterbach, successively renovated the hall buildings and, after the municipality of Merchingen acquired the gate and corner building in 1995, converted these parts of the building into a castle hotel.

The residential building remains the property of the Lords of Berlichingen.