Merzhausen Castle

The old Merzhausen Castle, formerly also called Bollschweiler Castle, is a former moated castle in the municipality of Merzhausen near Freiburg im Breisgau. It is not to be confused with the Jesuit Castle (Tusculum Belmontanium), a manor house located on the Schönberg above the village of Merzhausen.

The Bitzehof is said to have once stood on the site of the old Merzhausen Castle. The still existing building, presumably built around 1593, is an elongated massive stone house with two stepped gables and a half-timbered structure. In the immediate vicinity was once the Danckenschweilisch Hauss, also called Dankenschweiler Castle or Dankenschweiler Hof. Nothing of this has been preserved.

In addition to the Reischach family, the von Schnewlin family was significant for the history of the place. In 1635, Magdalena von Bollschweil bequeathed the entire lordship to the Jesuits. After the dissolution of the order on August 21, 1773, the Schnewlin Bernlapp von Bollschweil initially leased the lordship of Merzhausen and finally bought it on September 18, 1776. Thereafter, the building was again called Bollschweiler Castle. With Baron Xaver von Bollschweil, this line of the Schnewlin died out in 1838. The estate and the lordship passed to the Schauenburgers through the sale by the heirs.