The Sepulchral Chapel (Grabkapelle) on 411 m high Württemberg Mountain lies amongst vineyards above the Neckar valley. From there far-reaching views into the surrounding area can be enjoyed. The Sepulchral Chapel can be seen from far off, and there is a direct line of view from Rosenstein Palace and the Wilhelma, two other royal buildings of the Württemberg dynasty.
The ancestral castle of the Württembergs, who had used the good strategic view for this building, was located in this striking place from the 11th century on. Konrad von Wirtemberg, who was born around 1045/50, is considered the forefather. For over 800 years the castle withstood the tides of time, until King Wilhelm I von Württemberg had it razed to the ground in 1819 to erect the Sepulchral Chapel on this site for his wife, Queen Katharina von Württemberg, who died young.
Queen Katharina died unexpectedly at the age of 30 on 9 January 1819. In 1816 she had married her cousin, Wilhelm von Württemberg, who was the Crown Prince at that time; this marriage continued a close relationship between the Russian and the Württemberg ruling families. Katharina, daughter of Czar Paul and his wife Maria Feodorowna, has enjoyed an unusually careful education as the brother of the later Czar Alexander. In Württemberg she founded several charitable institutions within two years, including the Württemberg Savings Bank (Württembergische Sparkasse), the Queen Katharina Foundation (Königin-Katharina-Stift) and the "Katharinenhospital". Here death was received with great sadness and dismay.
King Wilhelm I immediately fulfilled the wish of his late wife that her final resting place be on Württemberg Mountain. Beginning in May 1819 he had the ancestral castle demolished. A competition was announced for the construction of the Sepulchral Chapel; Wilhelm decided in August 1819 on the classicistic design of his court architect Giovanni Salucci.
In Mai 1820 the cornerstone was laid. The King advanced building resolutely so that it was possible to begin the decoration of the interior in 1821. The Sepulchral Chapel is a round building of sandstone with three porticos. Salucci found the models for this architecture in the Pantheon and Palladios Villa Rotonda. The interior is vaulted by a dome carried by a ring of Corinthian columns and pilasters.