Germany · Ruin
Hohenneuffen Castle
Hohenneuffen Castle is a large medieval fortress perched on a limestone crag above Neuffen in the northern foothills of the Swabian Alb, Baden-Württemberg. Built from the early 12th century and expanded into a full fortress in the late medieval and early modern period, its surviving fabric today consists of extensive curtain walls, large round towers and an upper bailey with later roofed buildings.
First raised
1198
Its prime
1540
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1540
The shape it held in its prime.
Perched on a pale Jurassic limestone outcrop, the castle occupies a multi-terraced plateau with concentric curtain walls descending the rock face. Massive cylindrical towers project at key points on the outer and inner curtains; the outer enceinte follows the cliff lip in a long low sweep. The upper bailey contains a long rectangular stone building with a red tile roof set against open grassy courtyards and tree-planted terraces; masonry is light-coloured local stone with regular crenellations and embrasures.
Its story
The story of Hohenneuffen Castle.
Hohenneuffen was built from the early 12th century on a limestone crag above Neuffen in the northern foothills of the Swabian Alb. It was long in the possession of the von Neuffen family — one of whom was the Minnesänger Gottfried von Neifen — before passing to the Lords of Weinsberg at the end of the 13th century, who sold it to the Counts of Württemberg in 1301.
The most important alterations came under Duke Ulrich of Württemberg in the first half of the 16th century, and Duke Karl Alexander later planned to remake Hohenneuffen as a fortress on the French model. What survives is extensive: curtain walls, large round towers and an upper bailey with later roofed buildings.
Like other Württemberg fortresses it held prisoners of state. A young Count of Helfenstein fell to his death trying to escape in 1502; Duke Ulrich had the abbot of Zwiefalten imprisoned here in 1512 and the reeve of Tübingen, Konrad Breuning, tortured here before his beheading in 1517. In 1737 Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, Court Jew to Duke Karl Alexander, was held on Hohenneuffen for several weeks before his execution in Stuttgart in 1738.
Step inside
12 places to explore in 1540.
The record describes 12 distinct spots at Hohenneuffen Castle — including 4 interiors: casemates with artillery embrasures, stable range in the service quarter, armoury and store rooms and more. 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 Hohenneuffen Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1540 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Hohenneuffen Castle.
The families that held Hohenneuffen Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
von Neuffen
The castle's founding family, in possession until the late 13th century; the Minnesänger Gottfried von Neifen was among them.
Württemberg
Bought by the Counts of Württemberg in 1301; Duke Ulrich remade the castle in the early 16th century and the dukes used it as a state prison.
