Heidegg Castle stands high above Lake Baldegg in Gelfingen, in the Seetal region of Lucerne, surrounded by parkland and cultivated countryside.
The earliest surviving document mentioning the family of the Lords of Heidegg dates from 1185. As ministerials, the Heideggers initially served the Counts of Lenzburg, later the Kyburgs, and finally the Habsburgs.
From 1482/83 onwards, influential Lucerne council families replaced the noble owners. Johann Heinrich Franz Pfyffer von Altishofen converted the residential tower, which was essentially still medieval, into a Baroque castle from 1678 onwards.
In 1700, the city of Lucerne acquired the castle and the lordship and completed the interior fittings. In 1798, the judicial authority came to an end. Heidegg became a state domain of the Canton of Baden and, from 1803 to 1848, of the Canton of Lucerne. Following the defeat in the Sonderbund War, the Canton of Lucerne auctioned the castle to the liberal Gelfingen farmer Joseph Heggli.
From 1875 onwards, Louis and Caroline Pfyffer von Heidegg-Slidell were the owners of Heidegg Castle.
The wealthy Lucerne-American couple gave the exterior of the complex a romantic, castle-like appearance with battlements and gateways, laid out a castle park featuring an avenue of chestnut trees, and restored the castle tower to a habitable condition in 1912. In 1950, the last descendants – the childless widows Mathilde von Glutz and Marie-Louise de Chambrier – donated the castle to the Canton of Lucerne, which opened it to the public. Since then, the Pro Heidegg Association has been responsible for its management, including the museum
