Kaltenburg Castle - Castle Grounds

Castle Grounds

The construction of the castle occurred in four, still visible, stages. The castle from the 12th century was really only a Tower house located on a rocky outcrop. In the 13th and 14th century the site was expanded to its current size. From 1450 until 1560 it was expanded once again. Finally, after the destruction of the Thirty Years War, it was rebuilt in 1677 and the two remaining square towers were added.

The irregular pentagon shape of the curtain wall was protected by the two remaining square towers and three or possibly four round towers. On the flatter hill side, the walls were protected by angular 5 m deep and 10 to 16 m wide moat. The gatehouse was located in the south near a steep cliff.

In the north west, under the ruins of the outer wall, a part of the older moat is still visible. On the plateau a 4 m high and about 16 m long piece of the curtain wall remains. The buildings of the first and second construction phases are almost all gone, only a few stones indicate where the 13 m high tower once was. The 3.4 m thick curtain wall was once part of the east wall of the square tower house of the first castle. The keep of the second castle was likely located to the west on a deeper section of bedrock.

The curtain wall of the 13th/14th century castle is nearly all gone, except for the south wall with a gate house. On the southwest corner the wall of the tower house is still visible. The construction is 10 m long and still 7 to 8 m high and about 2.2 m thick. The outer walls with the foundations of the round towers on the hill side, have been extensively restored and repaired. They reflect the condition of the castle in the 16th century. On the valley side, the two tall square towers date from the 1677 reconstruction. The towers, crowned with pyramidal roofs, are visible across the valley.