Description

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Urach Castle is located in the town of Bad Urach in the Reutlingen district of Tübingen. The current castle area consists of Poorttoren, the Professorengebouw, the tower guard building and the actual castle. The building has a rectangular, saddle roof dating from 1400 with a later extension on the west side of a hipped roof and a tower-like rectangular structure and the large southern tower. In the castle is the so-called Golden Hall, a distinguished, paneled ceremonial room of the late Renaissance in Germany. The room is illuminated on three sides. It is divided by columns with Corinthian capitals. The walls and columns are richly gilded. Already in the middle of the 11th century a water castle was built in the valley in combination with the Hohenurach castle. She served the count of Urach as a place of employment, and militarily she had the task of guarding and possibly blocking the valley. In 1264 the castle came under the rule of the Counts of Württemberg. In 1400, the modern Residenzschloss was built in line with the old Wasserburg.

When the land was divided in 1442, Ludwig I of Württemberg chose Urach as his home and moved to the city palace. In 1474, Eberhard I of Württemberg modernized the expansion on the occasion of his marriage to Barbara Gonzaga of Mantua. At that time, the Hofstube (Dürnitz) on the ground floor as a dining room of the entire Hofgesellschaft was equipped with an extensive four-aisled safe. On the first floor, the hall was given a monumental decoration with the ancestral weapon and the lord’s motto. After the reunification of the county of Württemberg in 1482, Urach lost its interest as the seat of the government. The castle was then only used as a hunting lodge, retreat of the ducal family, alternative accommodation or for festivities. Yet around 1600 it at least partially received a new interior in rich forms of the late Renaissance. In 1546 the castle was occupied in the Schmalkaldic war by Spanish troops of the Duke of Alva and in the 30-year war in 1634 by imperial troops. 1663/64 there were under Duke Eberhard III. from Württemberg extensive renovations.

At the end of the 18th century, the core of the factory, the old moated castle, was demolished under Duke Carl Eugen and the ruins of the Swan Lake were drained. In the 1960s the castle was thoroughly renovated according to the principles of the conservatory. Many indoor components were replaced by modern steel and concrete structures and valuable historical buildings were thrown away without documentation.