Ossenberg Castle

Nothing remains of the original castle building, which is said to have had a fortified or even castle-like character; even its position within the rectangular castle grounds is no longer known. It was replaced in the 1720s by a new building by its then owner, Count Truchsess von Waldburg. The extensive complex with the newly built manor house in Rococo style, the outbuildings and the surrounding walls forms a large square with four-sided three-story towers at the corners, to which a walled garden adjoins to the south. The courtyard entrance leads through a habitable gate tower, which is located in the middle of the west front. The manor house, standing on the north side of the area, is an elongated two-story building with a Rococo portal, above which is a risalit crowned with a gable. Originally, the main entrance to the manor house was on the north and outer side of the building, where there is also a Rococo portal with niches for the guards. However, in recent decades, only the courtyard-side portal has been used as an entrance. The manor house, which had magnificent rooms inside, was severely damaged in an air raid on March 26, 1942, whereby the left wing with its valuable Rococo interior was completely destroyed and the archive located therein was lost. After the war, the left wing and the kitchen building were rebuilt by Clemens Graf Berghe von Trips and some parts of the castle were restored.

In the still preserved part there are two rooms in Rococo style, whose damages have recently been repaired. The larger room, a hall, is a sight to behold due to its stucco work and paintings. The ceiling paintings show in the corners of the hall the symbolic representations of the four continents known at that time, between these the four seasons and in the middle of the ceiling around the chandelier the four elements. The preservation of the hall is all the more important as it is probably the only one of its kind in the lower left Lower Rhine region.

Between 1988 and 2004, many renovation measures were carried out at Ossenberg Castle and its outbuildings. The most recent, carried out between 2002 and 2004 as part of an EUREGIO project, involved the restoration of the right wing and the former guest and servant rooms. Since then, this part of the castle has been available to overnight guests. The current size of the estate belonging to the castle is still about 350 acres (90 hectares).