Palaces > Willibaldsburg Castle at Eichstätt

Object description:

Willibaldsburg Castle, view from the river Altmühl
Entrance area and restaurant
Bastion Garden

Willibaldsburg Castle – Eichstätt

The castle complex on Willibaldsberg was founded in 1355 by the bishops of Eichstätt. It was converted into a representative residence in the reign of Prince-Bishop Johann Conrad von Gemmingen (reigned 1595 –1612) under the direction of the Augsburg architect Elias Holl. The episcopal court moved into the new city residence in the mid-18th century and during the 19th century part of Willibald Castle was levelled. Its appearance today is dominated by the Gemmingen Building. The massive façade with its two towers was originally three storeys high and the towers were crowned with onion domes. However, the monument not only comprises important architecture from the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age. From 1973 to 1976 the interior of the Jurassic Museum, which is also a listed building, was redesigned by Karljosef Schattner.

The castle is home to important sights:

  • the Bastion Garden

  • the Jurassic Museum and

  • the Museum of Pre- and Early History

The Bastion Garden, planted on the basis of the collection of copperplate engravings, the ‘Hortus Eystettensis,’ produced in 1613 by the apothecary and botanist Basilius Besler (1561-1629), was opened in 1998. Besler originally laid out the garden at the prince-bishop’s residence from 1592 to illustrate the plant world of the ‘Hortus Eystettensis’, and the new information garden recreates the principles of this once famous botanical garden.

The Jurassic Museum takes you on a journey through time to a tropical island, reef and lagoon landscape around 150 million years old, which was populated by fish dinosaurs and crocodiles, coral fish and crabs, insects and pterosaurs. Its most impressive fossils include the only specimen in the world of the Juravenator, a predatory dinosaur, and an Archaeopteryx found in the region. ‘Living fossils’ in aquariums bring to life the colourful diversity of the marine inhabitants that existed during the Jurassic period.

The Museum of Pre- and Early History documents the history of the region from the Stone Age to the Early Middle Ages on the basis of important archaeological findings. Among the outstanding artefacts from these epochs are a mammoth skeleton, the only groma (Roman surveying instrument) north of the Alps and a late Merovingian grave site.

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Bastion Garden


Current information

Due to construction work, access to the observation tower and the well is unfortunately not possible until further notice.

Address

Burgstraße 19
85072 Eichstätt
08421 4730

Opening hours

April-3 October: 9 am-6 pm
4 October-March: 10 am-4 pm
closed Mondays
(except: 6 January, Easter Monday, 1 May, Whit Monday, 15 August, 3 October, 1 November)

Last admission 45 minutes before closing time

Closed on: January 1, Shrove Tuesday, December 24/25/31

General information on opening times and admission fees

Admission fees 2025

5 euros regular
4 euros reduced

Children under 18 are admitted free of charge.

General tariff regulations (excerpt)

Annual season tickets/
14-day tickets

Accessibility

The fountain and tower of Willibaldsburg Castle and the Museum of Pre- and Early History are not barrier-free. Most of the Jura Museum is accessible for wheelchair users; the access to the Bastion garden is difficult because of steep slopes.

Getting here / parking

Parking is available in the outer bailey and in the car park of the Berufsschule (vocational school) on Burgstraße.
No coach parking spaces

Eichstätt-Stadt
www.bahn.com

Bus (bus stop below the castle)

Further information

Pushchairs can be taken into the exhibition rooms of the Jura Museum.

Lockers are available in the ticket office building (some with charging facilities).

Service (leaflets, photo/film, links…)

Jura Museum (Stiftung Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt)
08421 602980-0
www.jura-museum.de

Museum of Pre- and Early History (Historischer Verein Eichstätt e. V.)
0176 62756238
www.histver.de

Burggaststätte „Das Willibald“
08421 607680
www.daswillibald.de

Administrative office

Schloss- und Gartenverwaltung Ansbach
Promenade 27
91522 Ansbach
0981 953839-0
Fax 0981 953839-40
sgvansbach@ bsv.bayern.de


 
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