Heidelberg Castle: Age-old ruins tower above German city

  • Published
  • By By Staff Sgt. R.J. Biermann
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  On a recent trip to Germany, my family and I stopped by Schloss Heidelberg, or the Heidelberg Castle, just an hour's drive from Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

For more than 700 years the castle, seated in the nearby hills, has towered over Heidelberg.

The massive castle was first constructed around 1300, and first used as a royal residence in 1398 for Prince Rupert III. Years later, the castle was expanded into two castles: the upper and lower castle. The castle was inhabited until 1764, when a lightning strike destroyed the upper castle.

During the 1800s, conservation of the castle ruins began. Unfortunately, many of the castle's stones were taken by Heidelberg citizens to use for construction of their own homes. Today, much of the castle sits without ceilings, walls and doors.

On our visit, we parked several streets above the castle and walked down through the beautiful gardens to the entrance. The gardens were built in the early 1600s for Prince Friedrich V's wife and were all but destroyed during the War of the Palatine Succession in 1693. Rebuilt years later, the gardens' mazes, greenhouses, fruit trees, flower beds and waterfalls were all casualties of the war.

For a measly four to six euro, visitors can tour the castle on their own. If you're the adventurous type, there are several rooms, crevices, walkways and stairwells to explore, and the view of Heidelberg Square from the castle heights is perfectly picturesque.

Within the castle's courtyard and depending on the day, visitors can enjoy a musical or entertainment performance. A couple gift shops and eateries now occupy a handful of the castle rooms that face the courtyard, and a pharmacy exhibit takes you along a timeline from historic to modern medicine.

If you want to do some shopping, enjoy lunch or grab a collectible coffee mug from your favorite international coffee shop, you'll first have to climb down the 300 or so stairs to the city square. Just remember, you're going to have to climb back up them in order to leave.