Regensberg Castle

Regensberg Castle is located in Regensberg in the canton of Zurich on the eastern Lägern ridge, an offshoot of the Swiss Jura mountains.

Middle Ages

Presumably around 1040, Baron Lütold von Affoltern built the Altburg on a moraine hill near Regensdorf, on the current border between the city of Zurich and Regensdorf, not far from Lake Katzensee. His descendants later called themselves Barons of Regensberg. The Regensbergers experienced their heyday at the beginning of the 13th century in northeastern Switzerland, in what was then the Zurichgau. They consolidated their position of power through intensive castle building, town foundations, and the establishment of the monasteries of Fahr and Rüti.

It is not definitively clear whether Lütold V or his son Ulrich founded the town of Neu-Regensberg, today Regensberg, around 1240/45. What is certain is that after the death of Lütold V (around 1250), his two sons, Lütold VI and Ulrich von Regensberg, divided the inheritance. Ulrich secured, among other things, the ancestral seat of Neu-Regensberg. The Regensberg Feud of 1267/68, which is only fragmentarily documented, falls within his time and ended with the economic decline of the Regensbergers and the sale of their possessions to Habsburg feudal lords. Ulrich von Regensberg died around 1280 and was buried in the Barfüsserkloster. His very well-preserved tomb slab, depicting an idealized knightly figure, can be seen in the Swiss National Museum; a replica is located at the fountain at the entrance to the town of Regensberg. Ulrich's son Lütold VIII also had to sell Neu-Regensberg to Habsburg-Austria in 1302, and the Regensbergers retreated to their old ancestral castle.

The Habsburgs pledged the castle and town several times until they were acquired by the city of Zurich in 1409 and, from 1417, became the seat of the bailiff of the Regensberg bailiwick ("Outer Bailiwick") of the city of Zurich. On Pentecost 1443, Regensberg was conquered by the Confederates in the Old Zurich War (1436–50), but not destroyed. The only known victim is said to have been the bailiff of Regensberg, as was the bailiff of Grüningen a few months later. Zurich reoccupied Regensberg with troops as early as 1444.

Early Modern Period

In 1540, the town was destroyed by a major fire; only the castle remained largely unscathed. The palas was demolished in 1583/85 and replaced by a new building. From 1689, a 'modern' fortification surrounded the castle and old town. In the spring of 1798, French revolutionary troops marched into the Old Swiss Confederacy. On March 13, 1798, the Zurich council resigned: the bailiwicks were abolished. With the "Helvetic Revolution," the last bailiff left his official residence in the castle, and Regensberg was incorporated into the Bülach district. After the end of the Helvetic Republic, Regensberg became the district capital in 1803, but lost this function to Dielsdorf in 1871, which had gained importance due to railway construction.

Until 1865, the castle remained the seat of authorities, and the district prison was located in the main building.

In 1883, on the initiative of the Charitable Society of the Canton of Zurich, the current "Förder-Stiftung für Kinder und Jugendliche der Stiftung Schloss Regensberg" (Support Foundation for Children and Young People of the Regensberg Castle Foundation) was founded.