Heidelberger Schloss

Heidelberger Schloss rises about eighty metres above Heidelberg’s old town, on the northern slope of the Königstuhl. The hilltop overlooks the city. Its ruined buildings combine Renaissance grandeur with surviving traces of a medieval fortress, including the court chapel and Fat Tower. A funicular railway connects the castle with Kornmarkt and the Königstuhl.

The oldest parts date from before 1214, while expansion around 1294 created upper and lower castles. The lower castle became the principal residence. Counts Palatine and Electors Palatine enlarged it through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, shaping one of the most significant Renaissance complexes north of the Alps. Martin Luther visited during the Heidelberg Disputation and examined its defences with Wolfgang, Count Palatine. Wars brought further damage, including attacks in 1622 and 1633 during the Thirty Years’ War.

French troops burned and damaged the complex in 1689 and 1693, while lightning destroyed the upper castle in 1537. A later strike set the Saalbau ablaze in 1764. Mannheim then became the court’s home. The ruins still preserve layers of medieval fortification, Renaissance architecture, wartime destruction, and a legend about the soothsayer Jetta.