"This is not Heidelberg Castle, is it??? " a Heidelberg Travel Page by christine.j

No,it's not and yes, it is. It is not the famous Heidelberg Castle which is known by every tourist in Heidelberg and hundreds of thousands, if not millions, visit each year. Not many people know, that there is another castle in Heidelberg, in the suburb called Handschuhsheim. This castle is called "Tiefburg" - Deep Castle - probably because it was completely surrounded by a deep moat. The only access was and still is by a bridge.

Two gruesome stories are connected to this castle.

At the end of the 16th century the knight living in nearby Hirschhorn castle, Friedrich of Hirschhorn,got into a fight with his cousin, young Hans of Handschuhsheim, living in the Tiefburg. During this fight the young cousin,legend says he was only 15, was killed . His mother was besides herself with grief, he had been the last of his family and now the family would die out,which they did in 1599.
She cursed the knight of Hirschhorn, predicting that because of this killing his family would also die out. He would be the last knight of Hirschhorn, dying without any children.
Friedrich of Hirschhorn laughed at her curse, he was also young at this time and was sure he'd have children.
But her curse worked, when he died in 1632, he left no children and so was the last knight of Hirschhorn castle.

This castle in Hirschhorn is a hotel today.

The photo shows the crest of the family living in the Tiefburg at that time, a glove."Handschuh" in German means "glove". legend has it that a knight had lost his glove and a young maid found it and gave it back to him.
They fell in love , got married and because a glove had brought them together, called the place "Handschuhsheim" - home of a glove.

The more likely explanation is not as romantic, someone called "Ansco" had lived in the area and this name got changed into "Handschuh".
I'm running out of space here, so I'll tell you the second, even more gruesome story in a "what to do" tip.

There are so many good pages about Heidelberg here on VT that I really wasn't sure if I should build one as well. Does anyone really need to read what I know about the castle? Or the main street? I don't think so.

But since I go to Heidelberg very often, either on my own or when I take tour groups there, I thought I'd give you some information about things less well known.So I'm going to build this page gradually.

Even though I thought I wouldn't give any tips about the castle since there are so many excellent ones already here on VT, I'm going to add a few tips about things many tourists overlook. Some stories about the castle as well, which may be interesting.