Wildegg Castle

The origins of Wildegg Castle date back to the first half of the 13th century, when Habsburg ministerials had a castle built to secure the region. The complex was first documented in 1242. After the extinction of the original inhabitants, the Truchsesses of Habsburg and Wildegg, the estate passed to Johann I von Hallwyl around 1340. In 1437, Peter von Gryffensee acquired the castle, only to later return it to the city of Bern, which had been the feudal lord in lower Aargau since 1415. After several changes of ownership, the fief passed to Kaspar Effinger in 1483/84, whose family passed on the property for eleven generations. A lightning strike in 1552 almost completely destroyed the castle, but the masonry remained, and the complex was made habitable again over several years. From 1684, a renovation transformed it into a baroque residential castle.