Hohenstaufen Castle

Hohenstaufen Castle (German: Burg Hohenstaufen) is a ruin, lying above the town of Hohenstaufen, in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was the seat of the now-defunct House of Hohenstaufen.

Hohenstaufen Castle can be found on Hohenstaufen Mountain, 684 m above sea level. The word Stauf means a "drinking vessel" and refers to the conical shape of the mountain.

According to written sources, Hohenstaufen castle was built in the second half of the 11th Century by Duke Frederick I of Swabia, as a fortress to protect family interests in the vicinity. The castle was until the 13 century a possession of the emperor and royal family, the Hohenstaufen dynasty. In 1181, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa stayed there; in 1208, Irene Angelina, the widow of Barbarossa's son, the recently murdered Philip of Swabia, died here.

After the fall of the Hohenstaufen, the castle was made an imperial possession by Rudolf of Habsburg. This strategically and symbolically important location was a constant bone of contention between the Count of Wuerttemberg and the Reich.

From 1372, Hohenstaufen was in the hands of the counts of Württemberg. After the expulsion of Duke Ulrich in 1519, Georg Staufer of Bloßenstaufen successfully claimed the castle, as a descendant of the old Hohenstaufen dynasty. Only a small force defended the castle, and in 1525 it was taken and destroyed in the Peasants War. Stone from the castle was later used in the construction of the Göppinger Schloss.

Since 1871, Hohenstaufen Castle has been regarded as a national monument. Walther Veeck undertook excavations on it between 1936 and 1938, and further excavations were made between 1967 and 1971, uncovering and securing the castle foundations. In 2009 additional work was done to preserve the site.

The Staufer Museum, located at the intersection of Pfarrgasse and Kaiserbergsteige in Hohenstaufen, contains artifacts from and historical information about the site. The trail that leads to the castle site starts between the two churches that are adjacent to the Staufer Museum.