Location: Lonetal, Baden-Württemberg Map
Constructed: 12th century by Henry of Kalden
Ruins of medieval Kaltenburg Castle stands near Lonetal, Baden-Württemberg region of Germany. Kaltenburg Caslte was originally constructed in 12th century by the orders of Henry of Kalden who also gave the name to a Kaltenburg Fortress. The place was chosen wisely as a strategic location on top of the 60 meter high hill above confluence of rivers of Lone and Hurbe rivers. Military fortifications of the citadel were badly damaged by the siege of 1435 by the Nürnberg armies. The final nails were deadly shots fired in 1632- 34 in the coarse of the Thirty Years' War. Kaltenburg Castle was abandoned after portions of the South West wall have collapsed. Although some local peasants were squatting on the grounds of the former Kaltenburg Castle, the fort itself was never used again for its primary purpose.
The ruins of the hilltop
castle are at 510 m above sea level. NN about 60 meters above the
confluence of the Hürbe and Lone on the Taleck.
About 500
meters north of the Kaltenburg is the entrance to the
Charlottenhöhle, one of the longest show caves in the Swabian Alb.
The name of the castle is said to refer to the
alleged castle founder Heinrich von Kalden (Pappenheim), who held
the office of Imperial Court Marshal under Emperor Friedrich I
Barbarossa. The fortress is believed to have been built between 1150
and 1180.
Under the Hohenstaufen the rule was imperial and
probably occupied by service men. In 1240 a Dietmar and in 1265 an
Otto von Kaltenburg appear in the documents. In 1332 the castle was
owned by the Counts of Helfenstein. At that time, Heinz Vetzer was
the count's bailiff at the fortress.
From 1357 the Lords of
Riedheim sat on the Kaltenburg. The Riedheimers held the castle
temporarily as a fiefdom of the Duchy of Bavaria or were appointed
bailiffs of the imperial city of Ulm. From the 15th century, other
noble families also owned shares in the castle, such as the von
Grafeneck and Stadion families.
In 1435 the Kaltenburg was
besieged and damaged by the troops of the imperial city of
Nuremberg. Another destruction took place in 1632/34 during the
Thirty Years War. It was not rebuilt until 1677 by the Riedheimers.
In 1764 the south-west building collapsed. The rubble was
removed for the construction of the new manor in Reuendorf.
After the complex had already been described as dilapidated in 1800,
the castle chapel was demolished in 1804. In 1806, however, a
partial repair took place, in 1820 five families lived in the
castle. That year the Counts of Maldeghem took over the property. In
1837 30 residents are mentioned. In 1897 only the gatehouse seems to
have been intact and inhabited.
In 1938 and 1940, the first
securing work began on the ruins, which was continued from 1980 to
1983. In the course of these measures, the two square towers on the
valley side were also renovated and expanded.
The fortress was expanded in four sections, which can still be
clearly distinguished. The 12th century castle actually only
consisted of a tower house on the castle rock. In the 13./14. In the
19th century the facility was expanded to its present size and
expanded again from 1450 to 1560. After the destruction in the
Thirty Years War (1632–34), it was rebuilt from 1677 onwards, adding
the two preserved square towers to the existing building.
The
irregular pentagon of the outer or Zwingermauer was reinforced by
two square and three - possibly formerly four - round, protruding
towers. The attack side was protected by an angled neck ditch about
5 meters deep and 10 to 16 meters wide. The gate was in the south
near the steep drop.
In the north-west there is still a
section of the neck ditch of the Hohenstaufen castle complex behind
the Zwingermauer, above which the rock of the core castle rises. As
a remnant of the first castle, a 4-meter-high and 16-meter-long
piece of the shield wall has been preserved on the plateau. Of the
other buildings of the first and second castle, only individual
cuboids remained in the vicinity of the almost square rock, which
towers up to 13 meters. The approximately 3.4 meter thick shield
wall was obviously the east wall of a rectangular tower house of the
first castle (remains of the wall). The palace of the successor
building probably rose to the west of it on the lower rock edge.
From the curtain wall of the 13th / 14th century Century only
the south side with the gate building is partially preserved. At the
south-west corner, the shield wall of the tower house of the second
castle rises above the moat. The structure is almost 10 meters long
and 7 to 8 meters high, the wall thickness is approx. 2.2 meters.
The remains of a vaulted corridor at a height of 5 meters and six
openings on the field side indicate a curtained wooden battle house
or a hurdle gallery. The extension of the Lords of Riedheim later
rose underneath (the surrounding walls were partially preserved).
The kennels with the stumps of the round towers have been
heavily restored and supplemented on the mountain side. Century. The
valley side with the two high square towers was built around 1677.
These plastered towers crowned by pyramid roofs are the landmarks of
the castle and shape the view from the valley.
After a wall
collapsed, the facility was cordoned off with a construction fence
and only partially accessible (as of August 11, 2011).