Nuremberg Castle

Brief information

Nuremberg Castle stands not simply on a hill, but on a sandstone outcrop above the Old Town. This rock explains both the silhouette and the layout of the place: the fortifications are raised above the city, the courtyard contains a well cut straight down to the aquifers, and the southern viewing platform faces the quarters at the foot of the hill.

The castle consists of two parts: the western Imperial Castle and the eastern Burgrave’s Castle. Its present appearance did not emerge in a single building season: the fortifications were created under different rulers and then modernized in the 14th–16th centuries. After the bombings of the Second World War, the structures were restored in their historical form, so today it is important to look here not only for “medievalness,” but also at how the restored form shows the earlier defensive logic.

What to notice right away

It makes sense to compare the castle’s verticals. Almost at the center of the ensemble stands an observation tower with a wooden spiral staircase along the wall; its right-hand turn recalls the practical side of a medieval tower, where upward movement was part of the defensive arrangement. In the Burgrave’s section, this principle is complemented by the Pentagonal Tower, the Heathens’ Tower, and Luginsland: the different towers gather the eastern half of the castle into a separate fortified node.

Another focus is how the space distributed people and resources. The double chapel is arranged on three levels: the retinue below, the king on the middle tier, and the emperor separately on the balcony. The deep well in the courtyard shows the castle’s dependence on the rock: the shaft descends 47 meters to the water of the Pegnitz. And the column in memory of Eimmart changes the reading of the bastion: part of the defenses became the site of Nuremberg’s first observatory.