Greiffeneggschlössle

The Greiffeneggschlössle is one of the most famous viewpoints in the city of Freiburg. It is located on the Schlossberg at an altitude of 300m above the Schwabentor and below the Kanonenplatz. From there, one has a view starting from the Black Forest, across the entire city, to the Vosges and the Kaiserstuhl. Today, the buildings house a restaurant with a beer garden.

In 1805, Hermann von Greiffenegg, the last Austrian government president of the House of Habsburg, had his retirement residence built on a spur of the Schlossberg and the ruins of Vauban's fortress. The land had been in his possession since 1791. The building was constructed as a country house in Empire style and was intended to serve Greiffenegg as a retirement home. When Freiburg became part of the Grand Duchy of Baden in 1805, Greiffenegg, after 45 years of loyal service to the House of Austria, resigned his offices and, at 68 years old, depressed, retreated to his "Quiet Sanctuary," as he called it and had engraved on a stone embedded next to the entrance: Qvieti Sacrum, Herm. de Greiffenegg, anno MDCCCV.

Von Greiffenegg only lived in the house for two years until his death. His son Hermann Gottlob von Greiffenegg, who led an unsettled life due to many places of service as a soldier and diplomat, inherited the building and lived there from 1833 to 1840, until he sold it for financial reasons to the wife of the brewer Fritz Schaich. After that, it served continuously as a catering establishment until today. From 1841 to 1908, it was associated with the Schlossberg Brewery, which no longer exists today and was located directly below the small castle. Today, the municipal enforcement service of the city is located at the former site of the brewery. The name "Schlösschen" (small castle) for the house on the Schlossberg is first mentioned in writing in the "Adreß-Kalender für das Jahre 1854" (Address Calendar for the year 1854).

In 1876, the commercial part of the property was sold to the brewer Georg Stratz, whose widow resold it in 1885 to the brewer Georg Rommel. At that time, the country house was not named after its builder Greiffenegg-Schlössle, but after the respective owners as the Stratz'sche and the Rommels'sche Schlössle. The city established the name Greiffenegg-Schlössle as the business name in 1914, after acquiring the property at a compulsory auction in 1902.