Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home

Posts tagged ‘Rotenberg’

24T74 Stuttgart: home of the Württembergs

E73

When I moved to Heidelberg in 2001, I wondered about the origins of the name of the German federal state Baden-Württemberg. I learned about Baden, a strip of land with French roots and bordering the Rhine river. But where was Württemberg?

In Stuttgart today, I went up a hill on which there used to be a family’s ancestral castle. What replaced the castle is a sepulchral memorial chapel, which today masters a grand view of Stuttgart city and the Neckar river valley, as well as vineyards surrounding the hill.

The name Wirtemberg and subsequently Württemberg applied to the area, region, and now, the German federal state. It’s no surprise Stuttgart is the state capital city (Landeshauptstadt).

In Stuttgart’s Rotenberg, the Württemberg family once had their home on the top of this hill. Burg Wirtemberg was first established c. 1080 AD/CE and demolished in 1819 to make way for the chapel seen in the image above.
In 1824, a memorial chapel in the classic architectural style replaced the ancestral castle and home of the Württemberg family.
“Die Liebe höret nimmer auf.” (Love never dies): above the main portal is this message from King Wilhelm I to his deceased wife Queen Katharina.
Chapel interior.
Chapel ceiling.
Crypt below ground.
Final places for King Wilhelm & Queen Katharina.
Outside the chapel, facing west towards the inner city.
Outside the chapel, facing southeast and down towards Uhlbach (centre-right).

I made all photos above with an iPhone15 on 20 Jul 2024. This post composed with Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.