Hohenfels Castle, Medieval castle in Kalkofen, Germany.
Hohenfels Castle, also called Neu-Hohenfels, is a medieval spur castle on a south-sloping hilltop at 616 m, about a kilometre north of Kalkofen. Four wings enclose a roughly rectangular courtyard with round corner towers at the southwest. The south wing's manor house has stepped gables and a spiral stair turret, and the west wing chapel retains a 1761 Rococo interior.
The castle was first recorded in 1292 as Neuhohenfels and served as the family seat of a local noble line. It later fell under the control of the Teutonic Order, which held the territory for centuries.
The castle gave its name to the municipality of Hohenfels, created in 1973. From 1931 to 2017 it housed the junior classes of Schule Schloss Salem, with about 20 teachers and 80 pupils aged 10 to 13. In 2004 ZDF filmed the four-part documentary "Die harte Schule der 50er Jahre" here.
The castle stands on a wooded ridge at 616 m, about a kilometre north of Kalkofen and eight kilometres east of Stockach. Since the EOS-Erlebnispädagogik association took over in 2018, the grounds can be visited again; previously they were closed for years. The former prison wing housed a castle museum, which shut in July 2017.
In 2004 the ZDF filmed the four-part documentary "Die harte Schule der 50er Jahre" at the castle, sealing 24 pupils aged 16 and 17 off from the present for four weeks to recreate boarding-school life in 1954. It first aired on 19 May 2005.
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