Principessa
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I am the Queen
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Funny anecdote: I was talking to my boyfriend about a TV program that shows train journeys (Rail Away). There was recently an episode in which they showed a special route in southern Germany, the town of Sigmaringen (including the castle of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen) was also discussed. Following this we also arrived at Hohenzollern Castle in our conversation, where the family owes its name. My boyfriend knew that the Hohenzollerns became Emperors of Germany, but was unaware of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen line. My boyfriend almost despaired: "How many castles those people have! Castle Sigmaringen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmaringen_Castle...Sigmaringen Castle (German: Schloss Sigmaringen) was the princely castle and seat of government for the Princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Situated in the Swabian Alb region of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, this castle dominates the skyline of the town of Sigmaringen....Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen: https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen....Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was a principality in Southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the senior Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 1623. The small sovereign state with the capital city of Sigmaringen was annexed to the Kingdom of Prussia in 1850 following the abdication of its sovereign in the wake of the revolutions of 1848, then became part of the newly created Province of Hohenzollern........The senior Swabian branch is not as well known to history, as is the junior Franconian line which became Burgraves of Nuremberg and later ruled Brandenburg and Prussia, and the German Empire....Hohenzollern Castle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohenzollern_Castle....Hohenzollern Castle (German: Burg Hohenzollern) is the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern. The third of three hilltop castles built on the site, it is located atop Mount Hohenzollern, above and south of Hechingen, on the edge of the Swabian Jura of central Baden-Württemberg, Germany.......Only written records exist of the original castle built in the High Middle Ages, built by the Counts of Zollern. Although the House of Hohenzollern itself finds its first mention in 1061, the castle is first mentioned as "Castro Zolre" in 1267, without any mention of the castle beyond its name, though contemporary sources praised it as the "crown of all castles in Swabia."......The current castle was built by Hohenzollern scion Crown Prince Frederick William IV of Prussia. Traveling through southern Germany en route to Italy in 1819, he wished to learn about his family's roots, so climbed to the top of Mount Hohenzollern....Red: apparently the current castle is the 3rd castle at this spot. ...He engaged Friedrich August Stüler, who had been appointed Architect of the King for the rebuilding of Stolzenfels Castle in 1842 while still a student and heir of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, to design a new castle. Stüler began work on an ornate design influenced by English Gothic Revival architecture and the Châteaux of the Loire Valley in 1846. The impressive entryway is the work of the Engineer-Officer Moritz Karl Ernst von Prittwitz, considered the leading fortifications engineer in Prussia. The sculptures around and inside the castle are the work of Gustav Willgohs. Like Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, Hohenzollern Castle is a monument to German Romanticism which incorporated an idealized vision of a medieval knight's castle. Lacking some of the fantastic elements and excesses of Neuschwanstein, the castle's construction served to enhance the reputation of the Prussian Royal Family.
Construction began in 1850,and was funded entirely by the Brandenburg-Prussian and the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen lines of the Hohenzollern family. Construction was completed on 3 October 1867, under Frederick William IV's brother King William I.
After the castle was rebuilt, it was not regularly occupied, but rather used primarily as a showpiece. None of the Hohenzollern Kaisers of the German Empire lived there; only the last Prussian Crown Prince William stayed for several months following his flight from Potsdam ahead of Soviet army forces during the closing months of World War II. He and his wife Crown Princess Cecilie are buried there, as the family's estates in Brandenburg had been occupied by the Soviet Union at the time of their deaths.
Starting in 1952, Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia began adding valuable artwork and Prussian memorabilia[6] from the collections of the Hohenzollern family and the former Hohenzollern Museum in Schloss Monbijou. Two of the major pieces are the Crown of Wilhelm II and a uniform that belonged to King Frederick the Great. From 1952 until 1991 the caskets of Frederick Wilhelm I and his son Frederick the Great were in the chapel, but were moved back to Potsdam following German reunification in 1991.
The castle was heavily damaged by a Ms 5.7 earthquake (de) on September 3, 1978, which caused some of its turrets to collapse, and was under repair until the mid-1990s......With over 350,000 visitors per year, Hohenzollern castle is one of the most visited castles in Germany. The castle is privately owned by the House of Hohenzollern, with two-thirds belonging to the Brandenburg-Prussian branch, and the balance to the Swabian branch.... |
