Situated on a ridge above the river Töss, Kyburg Castle was mentioned for the first time in 1027. Its original name “Chuigeburg” (=Küh- burg, i.e. Cow Castle) might indi- cate that the castle’s use was a refuge stronghold. It was Hartmann von Dillingen who acquired the castle by marriage, and henceforth called himself Count of Kyburg. This family became one of the most important dynasties in the area of the present-day Mittelland (North and Northwestern part of Switzerland) besides the Habsburg and Savoy dynasties. After the decease of the last of the Kyburg in 1264, Rudolf of Habsburg secured the Kyburg as his inheritance. After he had been elected German king, the Imperial Treasures were presumably deposited on Kyburg Castle.
The Habsburg shifted their sphere of interest to the East (Carinthia and Lower Austria) and at the beginning of the fifteenth century Zurich acquired the Kyburg count’s land which became a Landvogtei. Until 1798 noble Zurich citizens resided as Vogts on Kyburg Castle. For six years at a time, the Vogt was in charge of the judiciary and administered the various sources of income.
With the re-organisation of 1831, Kyburg Castle lost its administra- tive function and was put up for auction. The Polish count Sobansky spent the last years of his life here.
The subsequent owner (Matthäus Pfau from Winterthur) put his collection of paintings on display in Kyburg Castle. He was succeeded as owner by Eduard Bodmer who turned the castle into a museum in the style of the medieval romanticism. In 1917, the Canton of Zurich bought the castle and opened an exhibition, which remained unchanged until 1999. Since then, the Kyburg Castle Museum Association is in charge of the museum and under the overall control of Dione Flühler-Kreis a new permanent exhibition has been created and opened to the public in autumn 1999.
