Schloss Lichtenegg

Epfendorf, Germany, Germany

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Schloss Lichtenegg is a historicist castle located northwest of Harthausen, a village in the municipality of Epfendorf in the Rottweil district of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, standing on a hill above the Schenkenbach valley in a wooded area.

It is the only preserved and inhabited castle in the upper Neckar valley. The castle's origins trace back to a medieval castle built between the mid-12th and mid-13th centuries, which was transformed into the present castle around 1560, preserving some Romanesque parts in the ground floor including a Romanesque cellar vault and an archway.

From the second half of the 13th century, the castle was a fief of the Lords of Geroldseck and passed to the House of Württemberg in 1471, with the first documented leaseholders being the Hacken von Harthausen, followed by the Lords of Ehingen and Lords of Rosenfeld.

In 1549, the von Stain family acquired the estate, rebuilt the buildings, and constructed the current castle, remaining owners until 1868 or 1870 when Baron vom Stain sold it to the Freiherren von Neubronner, who renovated it in Historicism style after initial renovations in 1834. The castle was called Schloss Harthausen until 1836, when it received its present name Lichtenegg.