Oberhofen Castle Lake Thun IMG_0701
The mighty keep of Schloss Oberhofen dates back to the twelfth century but the main palace and chapel are from the fifteenth century. The picturesque little tower in the lake is even more recent and a typical nineteenth-century addition.
One of the first owners of Schloss Oberhofen was Walther von Eschenbach, who was an accomplice in the murder of the Roman German King Albrecht the First in 1308. Ironically, the castle soon after ended up in the possession of the Habsburgs just to lose it again after the Battle of Sempach (1386).
Water Tower at Schloss Oberhofen Castle on Lake ThunLike most other castles in Bern and Vaud, Schloss Oberhofen eventually ended up as the seat of a vogt – a Bernese overlord who governed the region on behalf of the government of canton Bern. In 1801, Oberhofen went private again. From 1844 to 1925, Oberhofen Castle was the summer seat of the Pourtalès family of Neuchatel-Prussian nobility (another oddity of Swiss history), who converted it into its present state, built the delightful little tower in the lake, and planted the park.
Oberhofen Castle Lake Thun IMG_0701
The mighty keep of Schloss Oberhofen dates back to the twelfth century but the main palace and chapel are from the fifteenth century. The picturesque little tower in the lake is even more recent and a typical nineteenth-century addition.
One of the first owners of Schloss Oberhofen was Walther von Eschenbach, who was an accomplice in the murder of the Roman German King Albrecht the First in 1308. Ironically, the castle soon after ended up in the possession of the Habsburgs just to lose it again after the Battle of Sempach (1386).
Water Tower at Schloss Oberhofen Castle on Lake ThunLike most other castles in Bern and Vaud, Schloss Oberhofen eventually ended up as the seat of a vogt – a Bernese overlord who governed the region on behalf of the government of canton Bern. In 1801, Oberhofen went private again. From 1844 to 1925, Oberhofen Castle was the summer seat of the Pourtalès family of Neuchatel-Prussian nobility (another oddity of Swiss history), who converted it into its present state, built the delightful little tower in the lake, and planted the park.