Beihingen borough The
Amandus Church, dating to the 16th century, was originally built as a
fortress church. It is situated on a hill above the old village centre. It is remarkable for its architectural variety with elements of many epochs, its paintings, and the valuable 1766 organ. Within sight of Amandus church lies the Old Castle of Beihingen, built by the hereditary
barons of Nothaft and Gemmingen. The oldest part of the castle are the ruins of a 13th-century
bergfried. The buildings still extant today were mostly erected in 1480 and 1680. Today it is occupied by archives and club houses. The New Castle on the other side of the road was built in 1573 by Friedrich von Breitenbach and used ever since as a residence by a succession of aristocratic families. Today it is owned by the von Graevenitz family. Beside the three-storey main building from Ludwigsburger Straße can be seen the old tithe barn built in 1591; both buildings have been repainted as they were at the time of their construction. In the vicinity of both castles lies the castle wine press house. It was rebuilt in 1730 on the site of an older press house from 1577. Since 1964 it has been owned by the town and used for cultural events. Within the old village centre lies the old town hall from the 16th and 17th centuries, where Johann Friedrich Flattich was born. Also the old school house from 1776 still exists. In the Neckar river lies the Beihingen weir, where the Neckar channel branches away from the abandoned course of the river.
Geisingen borough In Geisingen is found the St. Nicolas church built in the late Gothic style. At first in 1474 a chapel was built, which today serves as chancel. The main nave and the tower were added in 1521 and 1522. In 1900 the tower received its pointed roof replacing the former cap. In the interior of the church are the 16th-century tombstones of the former lords of the manor, the von Stammheim and Schertlin von Burtenbach families. Immediately below the church lies the upper Geisingen castle or Kniestedt castle first mentioned near the end of the 16th century and rebuilt in 1723. Still a further 200 m further down, at the valley floor, lies the lower castle, the ancestral seat of the von Stammheim noble family, a former moated castle from 1486. The buildings as seen today, however, are all much younger; some have only been rebuilt in the 20th century modelled on their predecessor buildings on their former place. An extension building of the moated castle is the so-called "Schlössle" ("little castle" in the Swabian dialect), dated 1671. Further buildings from the 17th century within the farmyard of the lower castle are the old oil mill and the former wine press house.
Heutingsheim borough At the town's exit towards Ludwigsburg-Eglosheim lies the largest original Chinese house in Europe. It is surrounded by a garden open to the public designed following
taoist principles. House and garden were built following the terrain improvement in 1994 by the Chinese Dashi-Enterprise Group by Chinese builders and craftsmen. All building material was specially brought in from China. After opening in 1995 it served as German-Chinese centre as well as restaurant. In 2007 the house was abandoned after the operator had filed for bankruptcy in summer 2006 and remained unoccupied. In 2008 building and garden were closed to the public due to risk of collapse. In November 2008 the district court at Stuttgart decided that the bankrupt operator had to return the property to the town. In May 2010 the restoration works began. The new owner, Ming Ze Schaumann, again had specifically employed Chinese craftsmen. At 15. May 2011 the renovated China House was officially reopened. At the centre of the former village of Heutingsheim was the townhall built in 1781 in the classicistic style within a warren of narrow alleys and side streets. The Protestant parochial church St. Simon and Jude, a late gothic west tower church from 1487, has a beautifully sculpted chancel with a ribbed vaulting. The headstones show the biblical apostles Simon and Jude (Thaddeus) and Mary with the Child as Queen of Heaven. The pulpit rests on a stone sculpture: the pulpit bearer, a kneeling man, created by
Anton Pilgram, bears it upon his shoulders. The big clock in the tower inscribed Osanna dates from 1492. Heutingsheim too has its castle. The building complex erected around 1700 with its manor and triple-winged outhouse is delimited towards the street by a castle wall. It is a typical example of a country manor of a minor noble family from that time. Untypical for the region, however, are the Low German elements in the timber-framed gables of the outhouse as seen from the road. ==Nature preservation==