The view from opposite
Walls growing from rock above a drop.
-donald- — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Carsten Steger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Carsten Steger — CC BY-SA 4.0 · CEphoto, Uwe Aranas — CC BY-SA 3.0
No, despite the identical name. The principality is an independent state between Switzerland and Austria ruled by the House of Liechtenstein, while this is a castle in the German state of Baden-Württemberg built by a duke of the House of Urach and named for the medieval castle that stood here. The only link is the name, which means literally shining stone.
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Lichtenstein Castle stands on the edge of a rock cliff in the Swabian Jura south of Stuttgart, hanging above the valley in a way that looks impossible — which is why it is often called the fairy-tale castle. But the truth is stranger than the legend: the castle is not medieval at all, but was built in 1842. The story is literary. The German writer Wilhelm Hauff published a novel called Lichtenstein in 1826 about a medieval knight, and it was an enormous success that captured a whole generation's imagination. Duke Wilhelm of Urach admired it so much that he bought the ruins of the original castle and built in their place a new romantic castle realising the image the book had drawn — meaning this is a castle built to resemble a novel. The interior is by guided tour only and holds a knights' hall, weapons, furnishings and stained glass. But the exterior view is the star: the castle from the viewpoint opposite, its walls growing straight out of the rock above a drop. Reaching it needs a car or bus, about an hour from Stuttgart.
Walls growing from rock above a drop.
Weapons and stained glass on the tour.
Schloss Lichtenstein 1, 72805 Lichtenstein