Heidelberg Castle is one of the most famous ruins in Germany and the symbol of the city of Heidelberg. Until it was destroyed in the War of the Palatinate Succession, it was the residence of the Electors of the Palatinate. Since the destruction by the soldiers of Louis XIV in 1689 and the demolition by French pioneers on September 6, 1693, the Heidelberg Castle has only been partially restored. After lightning had set the partially renovated facility on fire on June 24, 1764, the restoration was abandoned. The castle ruins made of red Neckar valley sandstone rises 80 meters above the valley floor on the northern slope of the Königstuhl and from there dominates the image of the old town. The Ottheinrichsbau, one of the palace buildings of the castle, is one of the most important structures of German Mannerism. In the cultural-historical epoch of Romanticism, the castle ruins were stylized as the epitome of a bygone and admirable epoch. Today it is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Europe.
Around 1182, Konrad der Staufer, half-brother of Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa and since 1156 Count Palatine of the Rhine, moved his court from Stahleck Castle near Bacharach on the Middle Rhine to Heidelberg Castle , his seat as Vogt of the Schönau monastery in the Odenwald .
