Count's residence since the Middle Ages

The Counts of Montfort were one of the oldest families in Upper Swabia with possessions in Vorarlberg, in the Allgäu and on Lake Constance. Since the 12th century, the Counts of Montfort ruled over the territory of Tettnang. In Tettnang itself there were two medieval castles that belonged to the counts. In the 17th century - after the castles were destroyed in the Thirty Years' War - the Old Castle was built first, a three-storey box building over a rectangular ground plan, today the town hall of Tettnang.

An Ambitious Count with Grand Plans 

In the 18th century, the noble Counts of Montfort only owned the region around Tettnang. However, they still held high ecclesiastical and political offices. Count Anton III, for example, was high court marshal in Salzburg for a long time. He found the Old Castle in Tettnang inappropriate for his rank. Debts and a financially weak principality did not deter him from his ambitious building project: master builder Christoph Gessinger was commissioned to build a large castle.