Germany · Restored
Stettenfels Castle
Stettenfels Castle is a medieval hilltop castle above the town of Untergruppenbach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Remodeled as a Renaissance residence under the Fuggers, it sits on a sandstone ridge surrounded by a broad moat and is used today for cultural events and public visits.
First raised
1000
Its prime
1594
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1594
What Stettenfels Castle looked like in its prime.
Perched on a sandstone ridge, the castle presents a compact, elongated mass of pale sandstone walls topped by steep red-tiled roofs. Three round towers with conical tiled caps punctuate the curtain wall; a massive stone gatehouse is reached by a wide bridge spanning a broad water-filled moat. The castle encloses a pointed triangular courtyard dominated by a central fountain and ringed by multi-storey residential ranges with regular windows and ground-floor stone archways.
Its story
The story of Stettenfels Castle.
From 1356 Stettenfels was owned by Burkhard, Knight of Sturmfeder, and from 1462 to 1478 by the Lords of Helmstatt. Duke Ulrich of Württemberg's victory in the Landshut War of Succession made the castle a Württemberg fief in 1507 under Marshal Konrad Thumb of Neuburg, whose son Hans Konrad sold the fief in 1527 to Philip of Hirnheim, the Reformer of Gruppenbach.
In 1551 Anton Fugger, nephew of Jakob the Rich, acquired the castle grounds, and under the Fuggers — Hans Fugger among them — Stettenfels was remodelled as a Renaissance residence. Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg, acquired the site in 1747; the municipality of Gruppenbach followed in 1829, then a run of private owners from the tanner Friedrich Korn in 1852 to the farmer Christian Hildt in 1888, before which the site housed the state forestry office.
The castle sits on a sandstone ridge east of the historic town centre, ringed by a broad moat with three old towers. A massive bridge and gatehouse lead into a triangular courtyard dominated by a fountain and the historic staircase tower. Most of the buildings date back to the Renaissance castle; the moat is accessible and now holds a fixed stage, and the complex is used for cultural events and public visits.
Step inside
9 places to explore in 1594.
The record describes 9 distinct spots at Stettenfels Castle — including 1 interior: inside the staircase tower. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Stettenfels Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1594 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Stettenfels Castle.
The families that held Stettenfels Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Sturmfeder
Owned from 1356 by Burkhard, Knight of Sturmfeder.
Helmstatt
Held by the Lords of Helmstatt, 1462–1478.
Thumb of Neuburg
Held as a Württemberg fief by Marshal Konrad Thumb of Neuburg from 1507 until his son sold it in 1527.
Hirnheim
Held by Philip of Hirnheim, the Reformer of Gruppenbach, from 1527.
Fugger
Acquired by Anton Fugger in 1551; the Fuggers remodelled Stettenfels as a Renaissance residence.
