Altshausen is a town of about 4,100 which can be found about 12 miles northwest of Weingarten. The area has a long history, with Celtic and Roman traces having been found nearby. Mention of the town itself goes back to 1004 A.D. Ownership went to the Teutonic Order in 1264, who retained the property until 1806. At this time the town fell to the Kingdom of Bavaria, and soon after became a possession of the Kingdom of Württemberg. Württemberg joined the German Confederation in the 19th Century, later becoming a nation-state within Germany. The kingdom was dissolved at the end of World War I (as were all the monarchies in Germany), and the territory became a “people’s state” and parliamentary democracy within the German Empire. In 1952, Württemberg became part of the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Altshausen is far from the largest city in Baden-Württemberg (this honor goes to the state capital, Stuttgart, with 635,000 residents), but retains points of current and historic interest. The main point of interest (and the one we went there to see) is Altshausen Castle, or Schloss Altshausen. There has been some sort of castle as long as the town has existed, but the current castle was built under the Teutonic Order (who owned the property at the time) during the 18th Century. An extensive complex of buildings was planned, but not completed. Still, enough was finished to give visitors such as us plenty of baroque splendor to look at. To look at but not to fully visit – entry into most of the buildings is not allowed, as someone lives there.

When the Württemberg monarchy was dissolved in 1918, this did not spell the end of the House of Württemberg, which continued (and continues) to exist as a hereditary dynasty. The members of the House have titles as dukes and duchesses, but they no longer have any explicit political power. They do, however, retain ownership of a certain amount of property, including three castles: one in Friedrichshafen, another in Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart (called Monrepos Palace), and the one in Altshausen. The current head of the House of Württemberg (who would be king if the monarchy still existed) is Carl, Duke of Württemberg (Carl Herzog von Württemberg in German), and he lives in Altshausen Castle as his primary residence. Living with him is his wife, Diane, Duchess of Württemberg, who was born as a Princess in the French House of Orléans. They have been married since 1960 and are both now in their 80’s, but in their youth they were able to produce six new dukes and duchesses, who in turn have produced numerous grandchildren, so the dynasty is alive and well.

You might think that a large castle complex would stand out in a town of 4,100, and you would be right. The main entrance to the complex is through a large, baroque gate building, in front of which is a large, empty area known as the Market Square, or Marktplatz. The square isn’t always empty, though – once a year, in July, the square is home to the Festival of the Altshausen Music Association, which features a large flea market. Our visit was in May, however, and the square was empty.

We climbed upward through the Marktplatz, eventually reaching the gate building, and looking back, found that the castle has a commanding view of Altshausen, or at least the part of the town to the southeast. We also found the gate building to have some interesting decorative features of its own.



Exiting through the back of the gate building, we found ourselves in another large, open area, but this one was grassy with a big tree in the middle, and surrounded by buildings. One of the buildings looked like a church. And there were sculptures here and there.

Off to the right, there were several modern-looking sculptures, arranged in a line. It looked like they might be some kind of series.

Since the Duke and Duchess are not involved in running the government, they must find other ways to occupy themselves in a useful manner. Both have been involved in charitable works, but Duke Carl also runs the family business, which is called Hofkammer des Hauses Württemberg. This business is primarily engaged in managing the family’s properties, which include vineyards and forests, as well as the castles and other properties. The business is headquartered at the castle in Friedrichshafen. Duchess Diane, on the other hand, has been an accomplished artist for many years. She has worked in several media, including paint, ceramics, fashion and sculpture (both in bronze and in other materials). Most of the sculpture at the castle is her work, which she signs “DxDiane”.

The lined-up sculptures referred to above are the work of the Duchess, and they are representations of several guardian angels. Guardian angels are angels that influence people’s lives to protect them from harm. They are referred to in scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and some theologians have written in great detail about them, revealing their names and discussing their special abilities. Apparently there are 72 guardian angels in all; here are some of the angels the Duchess has sculpted:



Beyond the angel sculptures, across from the gate building, there is a gate leading to a large garden area, in which several more sculptures (at least some of which are DxDiane works) can be seen, and at the far end of which an Orangery building is visible. Visitors are not allowed to visit the garden area and the gate is kept locked, but it is possible to take photos through the gate:

Continuing toward the church, we had a nice view of the large tree referred to above (this is a linden tree, whose trunk has a circumference of 24 feet) and found some bronze sculptures of religious figures near the church.


Two of the bronze sculptures near the church appear to depict a figure known as Hermann the Lame (Hermann der Lahme). Hermann, also known as Hermann of Reichenau and Hermannus Contractus, was born in 1013 as son of Count Wolfrat II of Altshausen, probably in either Altshausen or Saulgau. Depending on the account, he was either born with a paralytic condition or developed this condition in his youth, explaining his nickname. He was sent to the monastery of Reichenau (Reichenau is an island at the west end of the Bodensee) at the age of 7 for his care and education, and was probably never able to leave the island in his lifetime. Reichenau was one of the most important monasteries of the Carolingian era, as a center of education with an outstanding library. Despite his condition, Hermann took full advantage of his surroundings, becoming a scholar who was anything but lame. He took the monastic vows in 1043, and eventually became Abbott of the Monastery. During his lifetime, he became well-versed in mathematics and astronomy, and was instrumental in bringing Arabic developments in these fields into central Europe. He was also a composer of music, even developing his own form of musical notation. He wrote extensively in all of these fields, as well as producing poetry. He also wrote a detailed history (called the Chronicon ad annum 1054) covering the birth of Christ through his own present day, a history which was continued by his pupil, Berthold of Reichenau. Hermann died in 1054, at the age of 41, and was buried near his mother in the castle at Altshausen. He was beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1863.

Continuing into the church itself, we found it to be baroque and beautiful. The church was renovated into this style between 1748 and 1753 by master builder Johann Caspar Bagnato of Ravensburg. Bagnato was kept busy by the Teutonic Order on various projects throughout his life. He had ambitious plans for all of Schloss Altshausen, but most of the plans were never completed. Today the church serves as Altshausen’s parish church. Duke Carl and Duchess Diane were married here in 1960.





As mentioned above, Hermann the Lame was buried in the castle after his death in 1054. This preceded much of the construction and renovation that has been performed on the castle, and in the intervening years, knowledge of his burial place has been lost. But this doesn’t mean that all of Hermann has been lost – part of his skull is on display in a side chapel of the castle church.

Next to the church there is a small building housing what looks like a diorama of events surrounding the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. This is the Holy Sepulcher at Altshausen, created in 1763 by unknown artists. For many centuries, western visitors to the Holy Land brought back accounts of what they had seen, and this inspired many artists to create copies or reinterpretations of the holy tomb where Christ was buried. But starting in the late 18th Century, church authorities began issuing decrees restricting installation and use of these holy graves, the result in Altshausen being several deinstallations and reinstallations of the local Holy Sepulcher, with storage of its parts in various places, and some of them occasionally put to uses for which they were not intended. Restoration work was done on multiple occasions, until finally, in 2002-03, present-day Duke Carl had a dedicated chapel constructed outside the church for the permanent display of the Holy Sepulcher, where the panels were set up following another extensive renovation.

At this point, we’d nearly rounded the courtyard and seen what there was for visitors to see, so we continued the rest of the way back to the gate building through which we’d entered and we returned back to the car.

We headed back toward Weingarten, but on the way back we stopped at the Kellenried Abbey. Kellenried is dedicated to St. Erentraud, who lived in the 7th and 8th Centuries and is the patron saint of Salzburg, Austria. Compared to most of the religious buildings we’d visited in Europe, this one was brand new, dating back to just 1924. The Abbey was designed by Adolf J. Lorenz and was founded as a Benedictine monastery. The original baroque/art nouveau design was more extensive than the current structure, but a number of factors (e.g. money, war) have kept the full design from being realized. The first sisters to inhabit the monastery were imported from a monastery in Austria. During World War II, the monastery was commandeered by the Gestapo, and the sisters were exiled while the monastery was repurposed as a residence for forced laborers from Slovenia.

Our visit to the Abbey was limited to the Abbey Church, which was not very large. We entered through a room filled with pews which faced an adjoining room that held the main altar. Besides an “island” for the altar, this room also held a tabernacle and an altar cross, fashioned mostly from wood as a “tree of life”. The windows behind the altar and cross had panes made of onyx. Also facing this room was a choir room, which we were not allowed to enter. This room held many choir stalls, plus the church’s main organ.



After a short visit to the Abbey church, we returned to the car and continued south, towards Weingarten. It was a nice area for a drive, largely agricultural, with some snowy mountains visible in the distance.

On returning to the house, we didn’t have much time to relax. The next day would be the wedding day for Rainer, the son of our hosts, and there were preparations to be made. Being guests, our main concern was to make sure we would be presentable for the festivities.

After dinner, we had a visit from the groom himself. He was happy to see us, and came bearing beer. Germany is of course famous for its beer, and Rainer brought bottles of some brands he’d selected. Nella and I are unfortunately non-drinkers, but this is a handicap that we have not passed along to our children. Connie was more than happy to see Rainer and sample the beer he’d brought.

Rainer hung out with us for a while, and had a chance to practice his English on us (much better than our German). Hopefully we were able to provide a brief distraction from his anticipation of the day to come, and from the many worries he was undoubtedly feeling. But eventually he had to return to his home to try to get some sleep. We needed to rest up too – the next day was going to be a busy one. There would be many rituals to be observed, at multiple venues. The most unforgettable one would be Weingarten’s number one landmark and attraction – the Basilica of St. Martin.