Stettenfels Castle View – Untergruppenbach, Germany
Stettenfels Castle is a medieval castle above the town of Untergruppenbach. The town located about 7 km southeast of Heilbronn, a city in the northern half of the German state of Baden-Württemberg.
The castle was built in the 11th century, probably at about the same time as many other castles in the area.
From 1356 Stettenfels was owned by Burkhard, Knight of Sturmfeder. From 1462 to 1478, the Lords of Helmstatt owned of the castle.
With the 1504 victory of Ulrich, Duke of Wurttemberg in the Landshut War of Succession the castle became a fief of Württemberg under Marshal Konrad Thumb of Neuburg in 1507. His son Hans Konrad Thumb of Neuburg sold the fief in 1527 to Philip of Hirnheim, the Reformer of Gruppenbach.
In 1551 Anton Fugger, a nephew of Jakob the Rich, acquired the castle grounds. His son Hans Fugger had the castle remodelled into a Renaissance chateau in 1576 by the architect Wendel Dietrich. In 1594 the castle burnt down, but was rebuilt by Dietrich.
The castle had many different owners.
On 5 October 1937 the castle was nationalized (“Aryanized”), i.e., seized by the Nazis and the Jewish owners fled to South Africa.
After the Second World War the castle was initially under American asset management. From 1946, the Lutheran Church operated a retreat and retirement home in the castle.
In 1951 the castle was returned through a restitution process to the widow of Siegfried Levy, whose family sold the castle to Friedrich Spieser in 1957.
It was sold to the architect Roland Fleiner Weimar in 1994.
The castle is now open to the public. Community concerts and theater events are held at the castle.
Every year since 2005 the castle has hosted a medieval festival with jousting tournaments, jugglers, music and artisans. Since 2007 the festival has been held on May 1 and the subsequent weekend, and now has hundreds of contributors and thousands of visitors.
Video Source: Stettenfels Castle, Untergruppenbach, Germany (Cinematic Drone Video) from slaks_travel on Youtube ⁄ CC BY
