Castle/Schloss, Heidelberg

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Walking up to the castle, you get to a large terrace from where you have a wonderful view of the town. I know that the views from above the castle and from Philosophenweg are better still, but already these ones are pretty good :-)
Although unfortunately the sun was not shining, it looked just like a postcard. I suddenly understood what dragged millions of Americans to Heidelberg, and I felt what foreign visitors might be looking for in Good Old Germany. Beautiful indeed.

You can perfectly see the roofs of the town, the churches, and of course the river and the old bridge. On the other side of the river, there is the green forest, and somewhere over there must be the famous Philosophenweg.

I spend a lot of time here taking everything in - it's easy to fall in love with Heidelberg at this place!

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There has already been written a lot about Heidelberg castle on VT, and as I am by no means an expert on it and only spent a short time here, I will stick to some basic info.
The castle is mainly a ruin, but this is what might have made it so famous - it perfectly fitted the romantic imagination of an enchanted castle in the 18th and 19th century. Together with the pretty setting of the town of Heidelberg with its river and brigdes, this was just perfect and must have seemed like a dream to every follower of the romantic movement. The castle was destroyed by the French army in the end of the 17th century and left largely as a ruin, only some parts and rooms were restaurated.

The castle was built of sandstone. The oldest parts of the castle (Ruprechtsbau) were constructed around 1400 in Gothic style, but most of it was built during the Renaissance, especially the impressive Ottheinrichsbau. Elector Ottheinrich was responsible for the construction which took place from 1557 on. The façade shows characters from the Old Testament, from Greek mythology, and the five Virtues.
At last, Friedrichsbau was added by Elector Friedrich V, again in Renaissance style.
Although so many parts were added, older parts were never altered - this explains why the castle looks so heterogenous and a little oddly assorted (at least this is how I felt).

As I did not have much time in Heidelberg and as I was here in peak season and did not feel like staying in crowded rooms, I did not do a guided tour to see the interior of the castle. I am looking forward to doing that on another visit! The interior can only be visited on a guided tour, you cannot enter on you own.

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Heidelberg Castle is one of the jewels not to be missed in this lovely city as there's a lot to see: beautiful gardens, the giant barrel, the Pharmacy Museum, beautiful buildings and the views of the city.

The castle is dated from the 13th century when Prince Elector Ruprecht III built the first royal residence in the courtyard. Initially, the castle was to be a fortress but more buildings were constructed. Today you'll see some ruins because the castle and the gardens have been destroyed by warfare and lightning bolts, but renovation works were done in the 19th century.

The King's Hall was added in the 20th century and is used for opera and ballet performances, banquets and festivities of this kind.

From here you get very nice views of the city and on a clear day you can see all the way to Mannheim.

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Heidelberg and its castle have had a long and troublesome history, that’s why we only can see part of the castle’s former glory today – but for me this even adds to its charm, during all seasons.

The castle is located on the hills south of town and quite easy reachable by foot (303 steps :-) ) or by funicular.

After getting your admission tickets (most probably at the upper entrance), you enter the castle through the gate tower with it’s massive trap-door (look above you, it really looks quite dangerous :-) ) and arrive in the courtyard. In there, you’ll see all the major buildings:
Ruprechtsbau and King’s Hall to your left (west), Friedrichsbau straight ahead (north) and Ottheinrichsbau to your right (east).

With the simple admission ticket you can walk around in the courtyard, visit the big wine barrel, the big terrace.

But I highly recommend that you also visit the German Pharmacy Museum and also book yourself on a guided tour, as only then you enter into the fascinating history, castle and town have, and partly a bit of general history.

Opening hours: 8 – 18 (all year round)
Admission: 3 € (for courtyard, Big Vat and Pharmacy Museum)

Heidelberg’s castle started to be built as a fortress around 1220, but the village grew not before 14th century, when the Counts Palatine (Pfalzgrafen) got the right to name their Prince Elector (Kurfürst).

Around 1400, Prince Elector Ruprecht III (Ruprecht I of the Palatine) became King of Germany and started to built the Ruprechtsbau (and other buildings), which is the oldest building seen on the castle ground today. Continuous set-up took place to make the castle a modern fortress.

In 1537, lightnings stroke the upper castle.

Prince Elector Friedrich II then started to transform the fortress into a representative residence (mid 16th century). Ottheinrichsbau was built in 1556, and it is considered to have been the first renaissance palace in the Germany of these days. It was followed by Friedrichsbau (1601) and the English Building (1614), the latter by Friedrich V, husband of Elisabeth Stuart. These were the most glorious days, the castle has seen.

In 1685, King Louis XIV of France claimed inheritance of the Palatine, which he justified being the brother-in-law of famous Lieselotte of the Palatine (Lieselotte von der Pfalz). Her refusal of acceptance lead to the War of the Grand Alliance (Pfälzischer Erbfolgekrieg) in 1688 and the following years. The castle was blown up and the town burnt to ground by French troops.

1697, the expelled inhabitants of Heidelberg returned and started to rebuild their village. Princes Elector Johann Wilhelm, Karl Philipp and Karl Theodor then started the rebuilding of the castle as well, but another lightning followed by a big fire destroyed the castle again in 1764.

to be continued in next tip

Rebuilding was not continued, as the residence of the Prince Electors has been transferred to Mannheim in the meantime (due to religious debates between Catholics and Protestants over the Church of the Holy Spirit).

It was a ruin, until early 19th century French emigrant Charles de Graimberg recognized it as a romantic ruin and protected it. Renovation plans never exceeded the rebuilt of Friedrichsbau.

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When booking a guided tour, you can see models of the castle's former glory, one of them in the pic – a view from the north.
The big tower (Thick Tower, Dicker Turm) is in the front on the right side, right hand the Women’s Quarters and the famous Palatine Library (the half round building). Left of the Thick Tower is the English Building, the light brown one is the building of the Great Vat, and left of this Friedrichsbau with the big terrace in front. On the very left of the castle ground ist the bell tower (of early 15th century).
In the background (in white) you can see the huge castle garden, or “Hortus Palatinus”.

And now - if you like, follow me on the guided tour of the castle interior.
"GT" in the following tip headings stands for guided tour.

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Ruprechtsbau is the first station of the guided tour. As mentioned earlier, Prince Elector Ruprecht III built it in 1400 ff. Only the lower basement rooms exist today, the upper ones have been left destructed.

On the left side, once inside the building is a permanent exhibition about the Palatine until the days of Reformation. There, you also can see a beautiful renaissance fireplace of 1546, which was part of the former dining room in the Hall of Mirrors.

On the right side in Ruprechtsbau is the room with the already mentioned castle models and some coats of arms of the Prince Electors’ days.

The tour continues to the outside, to what is left of the Library Building. From here, you have wonderful views to the west part of the castle’s moat, the destroyed English Building, the Thick Tower and the Elisabeth Gate.

A very funny detail is the toilets of the old days – simple oriels, built on the walls. The “residues” were collected and – in case of enemy attack – a little trap door was opened and – voila – spilled over the enemies :-))

Even the world's best one and only Monty Python have used this to illustrate the rough customs of knightship in their famous movie Holy Grail: in the scene where Artus tries to enter a castle which was occupied by the French. In the video at approx. 05.00 min.

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When Prince Elector Friedrich V married Elisabeth Stuart of England, he has built for her the English Building and the Elisabeth Gate (1610-1613). The English Building was destroyed during the War of the Great Alliance and never rebuilt thereafter.
On it’s left (north) side, the Thick Tower served as a bastion. It has a diameter of 28 am and a wall thickness of 7 m !
During the glorious days of the castle, the upper floor of the tower housed a theatre for Elisabeth Stuart.

Pic 1 shows the English Building and the Thick Tower, pic 2 the remnants of the Library Building and pic 3 the stair entrance to the English Building, which we will enter, but turn right (east) into the Hall of Mirrors and the former Women's Quarter.