Schafisheim Castle

Schloss Schafisheim is a small, late Gothic castle located in the center of the village of Schafisheim in the Swiss canton of Aargau. It is the oldest castle in Aargau, designed from the outset not as a defensive structure but as a residence.

The building was constructed a few years after the Battle of Sempach (1386) on behalf of the Lords of Baldegg, whose ancestral seat had been destroyed by the Confederates during the war. The exact year of construction is unknown; the first documented mention of the castle was in 1474. The building served as the residence of the holders of the judicial lordship of Schafisheim within the subject territory of the city of Bern.

In 1482, the Baldegg family, facing financial difficulties, sold the castle and the judicial lordship to the Hallwyler family. After the extinction of the Schafisheim line of the Hallwyler family, the Bernese transferred ownership in 1736 to the brothers Samuel and Etienne Brutel, descendants of French Huguenots who had fled Montpellier. In 1802, the castle came into the possession of the municipality of Schafisheim. After several changes of ownership, the Baumann family bought the castle in 1845; their descendants still inhabit the building today.