Germany · Demolished
Burg Wittelsbach
Wittelsbach Castle was the medieval ancestral seat of the House of Wittelsbach near Aichach in Bavaria, first mentioned around the year 1000 and occupied by the counts from the early 12th century. The medieval castle was abandoned in the later Middle Ages and its masonry was quarried away; a 15th‑century Gothic church (Beatae Mariae Virginis) now stands on the former site and a Wittelsbach family monument was placed there in 1834. Archaeological excavations were carried out in 1978–1980.
Its prime
1150
Today
Demolished
As it stood in 1150
The shape it held in its prime.
The castle occupied the raised site now marked by the 15th‑century Gothic church of Beatae Mariae Virginis; no medieval masonry survives above ground because the former walls were quarried away. In its 12th‑century prime the site consisted of a compact stone enclosure sited on the slight rise, with contiguous masonry wall lines and clustered domestic and service buildings around a central open area. The footprint is attested by later archaeological trenches and by the position of the later church and monument.
Its story
The story of Burg Wittelsbach.
Mentioned in records from around the year 1000, the castle near Aichach became the seat of Otto IV, Count of Scheyern, who moved here in 1119 and converted his previous seat into Scheyern Abbey. From 1120 the Counts of Scheyern were Counts Palatine of Wittelsbach, and the castle became the ancestral seat of the House of Wittelsbach, the later Electors and Kings of Bavaria and Electors of the Palatinate.
Local tradition says the castle was destroyed in 1209 after Count Otto of Wittelsbach murdered King Philip of Swabia, and never rebuilt; excavations of 1978–1980 found no evidence of sudden destruction, suggesting instead that the abandoned walls were quarried away. The Gothic church Beatae Mariae Virginis rose on the site in the 15th century, and in 1834 the Wittelsbach family erected a monument on the spot.
Step inside
4 places to explore in 1150.
The record describes 4 distinct spots at Burg Wittelsbach — including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Burg Wittelsbach with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1150 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Burg Wittelsbach.
The families that held Burg Wittelsbach for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Wittelsbach
Ancestral seat of the House of Wittelsbach from 1119, when Otto IV of Scheyern moved in, until the castle's destruction or abandonment in the early 13th century.
