The Castle Grounds

(Entrance Joh.-Mungenast-Weg)
The Californian sequoia standing on the right-hand side of the entrance can hardly be overlooked.
You are now in the former castle moat, which, until 1739 was filled with water and was used for fish farming. Later, the area was leased as gardens. In 1975 and 1976, the Town of Deidesheim and active residents converted the parts which had not been built on by 1804 into parks. In 1988, the German Wine Route Association awarded these new parks the special prize in the Garden Culture Competition for being the most beautiful gardens on the German Wine Route. The former castle of the prince bishops of Speyer was apparently erected during the 12th/13th centuries in order to protect the bishops’ estates around Deidesheim. It also served as a summer residence for the bishops and housed the administrative staff of Deidesheim’s authorities. After Louis XIV’s troops destroyed it in 1689, Prince Bishop Damian Hugo of Schönborn ordered its reconstruction, which was carried out between 1739-1745. The castle was eventually demolished between 1794-1797 by the French Revolutionary Army and residents from Deidesheim. In 1804, Heinrich Görg acquired the ruins from the French state and, by 1821, had erected the present buildings on the old foundations.
You will hardly find another tree with blooms as peculiar as the Dove Tree’s in the back part of the castle grounds. From a distance, it almost seems as if lots of white handkerchiefs are hanging from it. Native to Western China, the tree usually blossoms for about three weeks in May and June. In this part of the castle grounds you will also find the so-called “Tower Writer’s Tower”. About every other year, a German-speaking writer is invited by Deidesheim to be its guest and is offered the opportunity to learn more about the Palatinate. The experiences of each respective “tower writer” are written in essays and books. During their stay, the tower writer is also granted 2 liters of wine a day in order to ensure the continuous progress of his work. So far, authors such as Wolfgang Altendorf, Rudolf Hagelstange, Ludwig Harig, Herbert Heckmann, Walter Helmut Fritz, Hans-Martin Gauger and André Weckmann have resided in the tower. The round tower at the entrance of the Dr. Kern winery sale, the “Tower Writer’s Tower”, and the recently renovated round tower of the Wehner estate in the Burggasse are preserved parts of the old castle. Next to the “Tower Writer’s Tower”, you will also find a plant from the Tertiary Era, the Ginkgo Biloba, which is also known as the Maidenhair Tree.