The first castle on the mountain was constructed in the early 11th century. Over the years the House of Hohenzollern split several times, but the castle remained in the Swabian branch , the dynastic seniors of the Franconian-Brandenburgian cadet branch that later acquired its own imperial throne.
This castle was completely destroyed in after a ten-month siege by the free imperial cities of Swabia. The second castle, a larger and sturdier structure, was constructed from to , and served as a refuge for the Catholic Swabian Hohenzollerns, including during the Thirty Years' War.
 Jan BΓΌrgermeister-2048x1071-1200x628.jpg "Whores Baden-Baden")
By the end of the 18th century it was thought to have lost its strategic importance and gradually fell into disrepair, leading to the demolition of several dilapidated buildings. The third, and current, castle was built between and as a family memorial [ 1 ] by Hohenzollern scion King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Only written records exist of the original Alemannic settlement located for its strategic importance of the tribe leaders. Again, only written records exist of the original castle built in the Middle ages approximately built by the Counts of Zollern.
Although the House of Hohenzollern itself finds its first mention in , [ b ] the castle is first mentioned as "Castro Zolre" in , without any mention of the castle beyond its name, though contemporary sources praised it as the "crown of all castles in Swabia. Construction on a second, stronger castle began in Returned to Habsburg control after the war, it was rarely occupied and began to fall to ruin after the last Austrian owner left the castle in By the beginning of the 19th century only the Chapel of St.
Michael remained usable. Travelling through southern Germany en route to Italy in , he wished to learn about his family's roots, so climbed to the top of Mount Hohenzollern. He would write in as King: [ 8 ]. The memory of the year [18]19, to me is exceedingly lovely, and like a beautiful dream, especially the sunset we saw from one of the castle bastions. The impressive entryway is the work of the Engineer-Officer Moritz Karl Ernst von Prittwitz , considered the leading fortifications engineer in Prussia.
