The Castle in Dachau

Dachau's palace, called the Schloss, which means the Castle in English, sits atop a hill called the Schlossberg which is 504 meters high. The Schlossberg was the original site of a fortress when the town of Dachau was first founded. The Renaissance-style Baroque castle consists of only one wing of the original four-wing complex which was completed in 1573. It replaced an older castle which was built on the Schlossberg in 1403 and torn down in 1546. The new castle originally had 108 rooms with over 350 windows in its four wings centered around a courtyard.

King Max Joseph 1 of Bavaria had three of the four wings of the palace demolished after it was badly damaged in 1806 by Napoleon's troops. The one wing which survived was the western wing with the ballroom. It was remodeled several times over the years and its present appearance is attributed to Dachau architect Josef Effner. The Dachau Regional Museum was located here until 1957 when it was moved to Augsbergerstrasse in the center of the old town.

The next photograph below shows a view of the Schlossberg, the hill on which the Castle is located. (The white building in the photo below is not the Castle.) At the bottom of the photograph, you can see part of the old wall of the town, which looks more like a retaining wall than a fortification. This street leads into Dachau from Munich, which is 18 kilometers south of the town. At the top of this street is the original location of the Münchner Tor, one of the three gates into the old walled town of Dachau, which dates back to the year 805. This street is the Karlsberg which is an extension of Münchnerstrasse. At the top of this rather steep hill, the Karlsberg ends where Augsbergerstrasse and Konrad-Adenauer-Strasse meet.

Today the Schloss is used for concerts, special events and a catering business. There is a restaurant inside and also outdoor tables on the veranda overlooking the orchard of the English garden. On my visit to the castle in May 2001, there was a wedding reception on the veranda. The first photograph below shows the veranda on the southwest side with a party of Americans at the wedding reception.

The second photograph below shows an indoor restaurant at the Schloss. On my visit, I had tea on the veranda and sampled the selection of beautiful cakes on display just inside the door to the veranda. The veranda overlooks the English garden which is shown on next page.

English garden at the Schloss

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