Wädenswil Castle

Wädenswil Castle stands on a hill in the municipality of Wädenswil, in the canton of Zurich. After the Reformation, the Knights Hospitaller sold the Lordship of Wädenswil with all its rights to the Canton of Zurich in 1549. The Commandery of Wädenswil was incorporated by Zurich as a bailiwick into the city-state. This allowed the Zurich Council to strengthen its position on the upper left bank of Lake Zurich at the expense of the Order of St. John. Wädenswil Castle was built for the bailiff between 1550 and 1555. Alt-Wädenswil Castle had to be demolished in 1557 following a decision by the Tagsatzung (Diet), because Glarus and Schwyz feared it could become a starting point for military actions by the enlarged city-state of Zurich. For 250 years, Zurich bailiffs ruled from Wädenswil Castle. The bailiwick was very popular among the respective candidates from the upper Zurich estates.

In January and February 1613, Hans Landis and other representatives of the Anabaptist movement were summoned by Mayor Rahn and Antistes Johann Jakob Breitinger for two religious disputations at Wädenswil Castle.

After the collapse of the city-state of Zurich's rule in 1798, the Canton of Zurich emerged during the Helvetic Republic. The castle was declared national property and leased to the municipality of Wädenswil. After the collapse of the Helvetic Republic, the self-confident rural population wanted to retain their newly acquired rights. They rose up against aristocratic Zurich, leading to the Bocken War in 1804. The arson attack on Wädenswil Bailiwick Castle on March 24, 1804, was the first act of war by the insurgents. The main building was set on fire and burned down.

In 1816, the Zurich architect Hans Conrad Stadler began the construction of the current, neoclassical castle. After decades in private ownership, the German-Swiss Experimental Station for Fruit, Wine, and Horticulture was established in the castle in 1890, renamed the Federal Research Institute in 1968, and now operates as Agroscope Changins-Wädenswil (ACW). Its first director was Hermann Müller-Thurgau, the breeder of the Riesling x Sylvaner grape.