Hegi Castle

The castle group is organized around a robust rectangular residential defensive tower set at the heart of the site. That main tower measures roughly 9 by 10 metres internally and stands on masonry walls about 1.6 metres thick. Originally the tower’s entrance was raised above ground level on the north side, and until a 1707 fire it carried a timber upper storey; after the fire the top was rebuilt in masonry and covered with a pitched roof.

At the end of the 15th century the north side was rebuilt as a three‑storey knight’s house, a long, 28‑metre wing running along the plan of the complex. The other three sides of the site were closed by a surrounding curtain wall, and round corner towers were added at three points. These round towers display more of a representational character than heavy military workmanship. A two‑storey hexagonal chapel tower stands at the northeast corner, adjoining the principal living spaces.

Water once encircled the whole complex in a moat fed by a branch of the Eulach stream; that water feature was filled in during the 18th century. In 1613 the west range had its open courtyard roofed over to create the so‑called Gessnerhaus, where stables and rooms for servants were arranged under a continuous roof. On the south side a front wing reached its present form in 1805, and the entrance façade was remodeled in the same year.

Interior fittings combine original elements with later reuses and carefully preserved movable pieces. A late‑Gothic room with a vaulted wooden ceiling dating to around 1500 now occupies part of the interior; that ceiling was reinstalled from the museum at Stein am Rhein. Heating fixtures include a green relief tile stove from the early 17th century, brought from Wagenhausen in 1919, and a green tower stove from the late 16th century originally from Rheineck. The Lower Bailiff’s Room contains 17th‑century painted decoration and leaded glass showing the allied coats of arms of Hohenlandenberg‑Hegi and Hohenlandenberg‑von Mülinen, and its decorative window paintings and frescoes were restored in 1919 and are linked to the painter Hans Haggenberg. The Upper Bailiff’s Room preserves ceiling carving fragments taken from the church of Erlenbach dated 1496, wall inscriptions from the 17th century, fragments of a fresco painted in 1512 from the church of Turbenthal, and a series of coloured heraldic discs from the 16th and 17th centuries. The Upper Chapel is a polygonal chamber roofed by an eight‑part star vault, a high medieval liturgical space probably erected under Jakob von Hohenlandenberg.

Overall, the complex presents a sequence of masonry phases from the 13th century onward, later domestic expansions around 1500, early modern alterations including roofed service ranges, damage and rebuilding after the 1707 fire, and 20th‑century restoration that removed later intrusive additions and assembled several historical interior features for display. Many of these elements survive in restored condition and form the core of the castle’s museum presentation.