Historic building

Freiburg Water Castle

A drinking-water reservoir of 1896 in the Sternwald forest - a castle façade with three battlemented towers after the Freiburg city seal of 1245.

The "Wasserschlössle" drinking-water reservoir sits in the Sternwald forest above Unterwiehre-Süd at about 310 meters above sea level and was built in 1895/96 by the Freiburg construction firm Brenzinger & Cie. The occasion was the growing population and the increasing connection of households to the municipal water network. The facility holds two chambers with a combined capacity of about 3.8 million liters and supplies the lower-lying Old Town and Wiehre with drinking water purely by natural gradient, entirely without pumps - much like the principle of Freiburg's famous Bächle gutters.

Architecturally, the sandstone façade stands out with its three battlemented towers, whose form echoes the Freiburg city seal of 1245. The seal can still be found today on old cast-iron manhole covers in the city center. The facility is operated by bnNETZE, a subsidiary of the utility badenova, which is responsible for Freiburg's water supply. A regular interior tour is not possible; however, every two years badenova opens the Water Castle for the "Wasserschlössle festival" with guided tours of the reservoir chambers (check dates and registration before visiting).

The walk up takes about 25 to 30 minutes on foot from Wiehre station via Sternwaldweg into the forest; tram line 2 (Lorettostraße or Annaplatz stop) shortens the climb. Above the reservoir a clear view opens over the Old Town with the Minster as far as the Kaiserstuhl.