Schloss Warthausen, Renaissance castle in Warthausen, Germany

Schloss Warthausen is a country palace north of Warthausen near the river Riß, built in the South German Renaissance style with early Baroque influences on its exterior. The 40-hectare estate holds a park of just under 7 hectares, laid out in the English style in the late 18th century by the gardener Brüchner, with parterres; the remaining land, with lakes and ponds, is divided into fields by avenues. The former Warthausen brewery stands at the foot of the castle hill.

A castle at Warthausen is documented in 1168, when it was sold to Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa; it passed to the House of Habsburg in 1339 and burned down in 1474. Reichsritter Hans Schad von Mittelbiberach (1505–1571) received the building from the Habsburgs in 1529 and enlarged it into a country palace between 1532 and 1540. It burned again in 1623 during the Thirty Years' War and was rebuilt in Renaissance style in the 1620s. From 1696 the Counts of Stadion held it until 1827, when it passed with its hereditary rights to the Kingdom of Württemberg; Wilhelm von Koenig bought it in 1829.

Schloss Warthausen was long a meeting place for writers: Christoph Martin Wieland and Sophie von La Roche stayed here as guests of the Stadion counts, and the painter Johann Heinrich Tischbein also worked at the estate. Wilhelm von König-Warthausen recorded the palace and its gardens in his own writings. An article, The Gardens at Schloss Warthausen and Their Place in German Literature, examines this literary connection.

The estate is large, so visitors should allow plenty of time to walk through different areas. The gardens and grounds are best explored during dry weather when the paths are easy to navigate.

The eight-sided gable on the courtyard side shows skilled craftsmanship with its geometric form between half-columns and a portico from the 1530s. This architectural detail reflects a transition between medieval and early modern design.