Altbodman Castle

Altbodman Castle, also written Alt-Bodman, is a high medieval castle ruin southeast of Bodman in the municipality of Bodman-Ludwigshafen in the district of Konstanz in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The ruin of the spur castle is located on the wooded ridge "Bodenwald" 217 m above sea level near Bodman (410 m above sea level), near the hamlet of Bodenwald of the same name. The spur-like outcrop on which the castle was built lies at 627 m above sea level. From there, large parts of Lake Überlingen could be seen.

Today, the Alt-Bodman castle ruin can be reached via a forest path from the direction of Bodenwald or via a hiking trail from the valley from the direction of Bodman.

The history of the castle begins around 1170 as the seat of the Lords of Bodman, imperial ministerials of the Staufer dynasty.

Bodman Castle dates from the 14th century, when its predecessor, the old castle on today's Frauenberg, was destroyed on September 16, 1307, during a family celebration after a lightning strike, and members of the noble family and some members of the Hegau nobility perished in the subsequent fire.

Among the victims were Conrad, Katharina, Adelheid and Anna von Bodman, Gottfried von Kreyen (Krähen), Heinrich von Blumegg and the knights Hans von Bodman and Hans von Schellenberg. Only the youngest male namesake of the family, the one-year-old Johannes von Bodman, survived the catastrophe when the wet nurse put the child in a large cauldron and threw it out the window with the child. The cauldron plunged down the rocks, was slowed by the bushes, and finally got stuck.

The new castle, built under Johannes von Bodman, today's Bodman ruin, was completed in 1332 on the opposite mountain.

At the site of the completely destroyed predecessor castle, the grandfather of the rescued child built a chapel with a priest's house, today's Frauenberg Monastery, and donated it to Salem Monastery.

During the Swiss War in 1499, the castle was damaged. It was later militarily expanded into a fortress. But it too fell victim to the Thirty Years' War.

On August 15, 1643, during the Thirty Years' War, the castle was again destroyed by French troops of the governor of Überlingen, General Count Comte de Corval. He had the castle razed on August 15, 1643, with allied Württembergers. The noble family then settled in Espasingen Castle. It was not until 1760 that the noble family moved into Bodman Castle.

In 1851, Sigmund Freiherr von und zu Bodman stipulated in his will that the Altbodman ruin, including a fore- and core castle with a residential tower, should be preserved. Johann Otmar Graf von und zu Bodman initiated a first renovation measure in 1900, which became necessary due to cracking caused by lightning. He had the damaged wall sections repaired and the viewing terrace built. Another smaller renovation followed in 1922.

In 1956, Dr. Johannes Graf von und zu Bodman, with the advice and support of the State Office for Monument Preservation in Freiburg, again carried out extensive preservation measures to secure the existing ruins. It was renovated because wild growing shrubs had burst the walls and weathering and lightning had caused parts of the masonry to collapse.

From the end of 2002 until spring 2007, the Altbodman ruin was closed to the public. In 2003, access was blocked due to an increased risk of collapse of individual wall sections to protect the public from falling rocks. For this purpose, Wilderich Graf von und zu Bodman commissioned the Überlingen architectural office Haro Kraus with the renovation and invested around 1.5 million euros. The work was coordinated with the monument authority in Freiburg. The Baden-Württemberg Monument Foundation initially provided 120,000 euros in funding for the first construction phase. To protect against vandalism, the ruin was closed with a construction door. The renovation measures were to be completed by 2009. Since spring 2007, the ruin has been accessible to the public again.