The Castles in Oberdiessbach

The castles of Oberdiessbach are monuments to a proud former judicial lordship of Old Bern. Diessenberg Castle on the flank of the Falkenfluh was replaced as the seat of the lordship in the 15th century by the "Sässhaus" on the edge of the village, which the rising Diesbach family gradually expanded into the walled and gate-towered so-called Old Castle. A new era began in 1647 with Albrecht von Wattenwyl (1617–1671), who had grown rich in the service of the French king and purchased the lordship. After an intensive planning phase, he commissioned the architect Jonas Favre to build the highly representative New Castle between 1668–70, which his great-nephew Niklaus luxuriously furnished. Following a French model, it was designed as an open country estate, a first in Switzerland, and extends grandly into the surrounding landscape. Facades, staircase, room distribution, and furnishings meet new aristocratic requirements. In many respects, the castle is the initial building for the Baroque secular architecture of the leading stratum in the Ancien Régime. Sigmund and Martine v. Wattenwyl, the current owners of the estate, have carefully restored and opened the two castles, their outbuildings, and gardens over the past 25 years.