Rappenau Castle

Around 1600, the Lords of Gemmingen began constructing the current moated castle on the site of an existing manor. The castle, completed in 1601 under Eberhard von Gemmingen, survived a fire in 1622 that destroyed the surrounding lower village, thanks to a protective guard provided by Field Marshal Tilly. During the Thirty Years' War, the Gemmingen fiefdom was confiscated in 1630 due to the Protestant allegiance of the lords but was returned after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. After World War II, when the Gemmingen family left the castle, the municipality of Bad Rappenau acquired the property in 1956. It initially served as a sanatorium and later as the seat of the city administration until 2001, before being converted into a cultural center.