Ilvesheim Castle

Ilvesheim Castle is located in the center of the municipality of Ilvesheim in the Rhein-Neckar district. The Baroque-style building is now owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg and houses the state school for the blind for visually and multiply impaired individuals.

The new construction of a predecessor building, the Erlenburg, was first documented in 1511. The Junkers of Erligheim had already received the castle estate and the town of Ilvesheim as a fief from the Count Palatine in 1358. After the extinction of the family, the fief was taken over by the Landschad von Steinach around 1571. The Erlenburg was completely destroyed in the Palatinate War of Succession in 1689.

Shortly after Lothar Friedrich von Hundheim took over the feudal lordship, he began the new construction of the castle in the Baroque style from 1700. It was built as a three-story central building with four corner towers and onion domes. As the first minister of Elector Johann Wilhelm, it was intended to serve as his representative residence. The wing buildings were constructed between 1750 and 1773 and were then used as an orangery and kitchen. Further buildings, an economy building and the administrative courtyard, were erected in the 18th century. Subsequently, the Hundheim family became impoverished, and after the death of Alfred von Hundheim in 1855, the castle fell to the Baden state.

Already in 1868, the state school for the blind was established in the building. As part of its use, another wing was added to the castle in 1903/04. Due to the construction of further school buildings, little of the castle park remains today.