Flossenbürg Castle

Flossenbürg castle ruins
Flossenbürg Castle Ruins (2014)
Creation time :	around 1100
Castle type :	Höhenburg in the summit
Conservation status:	Restored ruin
Standing position :	Count
Place:	Flossenbürg
Geographical location	49 ° 44 '4 "  N , 12 ° 20' 43"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 44 '4 "  N , 12 ° 20' 43"  E
Height:	732  m above sea level NN

The castle Flossenbürg is a former high medieval aristocratic castle that sits high above the Upper Palatinate municipality Flossenburg in Neustadt an der Waldnaab in Bavaria on a bare granite rock rises.

The castle ruins of the Gipfelburg are freely accessible at all times.

Geographical location

The castle ruins are located immediately northwest of the village of Flossenbürg on the highest point of the 732 meter high Flossenbürger Schlossberg , about 13 kilometers east of Neustadt an der Waldnaab in the Upper Palatinate Forest . It is divided into a main castle on the rocky summit and a large outer castle , which is located southeast below the summit.

The ruin is located within the "Schlossberg Flossenbürg" nature reserve. Nearby are the ruins of Schellenberg Castle to the east, Haselstein Castle to the northwest and Leuchtenberg Castle to the south .

History of the castle

Depiction of the castle around 1600

The Schlossberg with the ruins of Flossenbürg Castle

The castle was founded around 1100 by Count Berengar von Sulzbach and initially only consisted of a residential tower with a high curtain wall, the so-called "high coat". The upstream keep was added in the 13th century , the gate systems date from the 16th century.

Over the centuries the castle changed hands several times. The most famous owners were Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa , the dukes of Bavaria, the Bohemian kings and the Leuchtenbergers .

During the Thirty Years War , the castle complex was set on fire in 1634 by the soldiers of Bernhard von Sachsen-Weimar when they withdrew. From then on, the castle increasingly lost its importance and served the surrounding area as a welcome source of building material. So the castle complex fell into disrepair over the years.

Today only ruins of the castle remain. Systematic conservation of the remains began in the 1980s. During the restoration and excavation work, finds of scientific interest were made, e.g. B. a cellar vault and the remains of an oven.

The castle ruins are a well-known and popular destination, especially because of the excellent view from the tower. To protect the surrounding beech forests with noble deciduous trees on the rock and block floors, the 21.2 hectare natural forest reserve Castle Slopes was designated in 1992 . Quarries were operated below the castle until the 1960s to break the granite that was there.

From 1938 to 1945, the Flossenbürg concentration camp existed east of the castle , where Flossenbürg granite was mined under inhumane working and living conditions on the Wurmstein. Today there is a memorial on the camp site.

natural reserve

The approximately 16.5 hectare nature reserve Schlossberg Flossenbürg includes the steep granite dome with its castle ruins. The very rare onion-shell-shaped granite stratification was uncovered through earlier rock mining and today, together with the castle ruins, represents a landmark of the Upper Palatinate Forest that is visible from afar.

The nature reserve was redesignated on March 2, 1939, January 5, 1952 and November 24, 1976 with an amended ordinance.

Geotope

Shell dome made of Flossenbürger granite on the Schlossberg

Due to the dome-like shape and the distinctive separation of the rock, the Schlossberg Flossenbürg is one of the most famous granite rocks in the Upper Palatinate. Especially in the summit area and on the west side of the mountain you can see the conspicuous, onion- skinned bank , which was probably caused by pressure relief. The Schlossberg has been designated by the Bavarian State Office for the Environment as geotope 374A009 and has been awarded the official seal of approval " Bavaria's most beautiful geotopes ". See also the list of geotopes in the Neustadt an der Waldnaab district .

photos

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  Residential tower of the ruins of Flossenbürg from the east.

• 

  Fixed house seen from the courtyard.

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  The battery tower seen from the courtyard.

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  The defense tower in front of the castle wall.

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  Gatehouse, the multiple arches are visible.

literature

• Joseph Lindner in: Sulzbach Calendar for Catholic Christians to the year 1855 , Sulzbach 1854.
• Andreas Boos : The Flossenbürg ruins . Spintler Medienhaus Weiden, Weiden 2000.
• Klaus Leidorf , Peter Ettel , Walter Irlinger, Joachim Zeune : Castles in Bavaria - 7,000 years of history in an aerial photo . Konrad Theiss Verlag , Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-8062-1364-X , pp. 148-149.
• Horst Wolfgang Böhme: Castles of the Salier period, part 2: In the southern landscapes of the empire . Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1992, ISBN 3-7995-4134-9 , p. 206 ff.
• Ursula Pfistermeister : Castles of the Upper Palatinate . Friedrich Pustet Verlag, Regensburg 1974, ISBN 3-7917-0394-3 , p. 86.

Web links

Commons : Burgruine Flossenbürg  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Flossenbürg on Burgseite.de
• Information about the castle on the HP of the municipality of Flossenbürg
• Flossenbürg on Burgenwelt.de
• Flossenbürg castle ruins on the homepage of the House of Bavarian History (plans, history, building history, existing buildings)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ www.regierung.oberpfalz.bayern.de, brief info
2. ↑ World Database on Protected Areas - NSG Schloßberg Flossenbürg (English)
3. ↑ www.regierung.oberpfalz.bayern.de, regulation of the nature reserve (accessed on March 16, 2017)
4. ↑ Geotope: Schlossberg Flossenbürg (accessed on October 14, 2013; PDF; 192 kB)
5. ↑ Schlossberg Flossenbürg (accessed October 14, 2013)