Wittelsbach Castle

The lost ancestral seat of the Wittelsbach dynasty, Bavaria's ruling family for 700 years

Wittelsbach Castle near Aichach in Bavarian Swabia was the ancestral seat of the House of Wittelsbach — the noble dynasty that ruled Bavaria for over 700 years and produced numerous European kings and Holy Roman Emperors. The castle, built in the High Middle Ages, was gradually dismantled over the centuries and today little of the original structure survives above ground. Yet the site remains significant: it was here, in the small village of Oberwittelsbach, that one of Germany's most influential ruling dynasties had its origins.