Schellenberg Castle (Upper Palatinate)

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Schellenberg Castle
The remains of the presumed residential tower

The remains of the presumed residential tower

Creation time : 1347
Castle type : Höhenburg, summit location
Conservation status: Restored ruin
Construction: Quarry stone masonry with corner blocks
Place: Georgenberg
Geographical location 49 ° 43 '56 "  N , 12 ° 23' 56"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 43 '56 "  N , 12 ° 23' 56"  E
Height: 826  m above sea level NN
Schellenberg Castle (Bavaria)
Schellenberg Castle

The Schellenberg castle ruins (also called Schölenberg Castle on the Hundtstein ) was a late medieval aristocratic castle in the Upper Palatinate Forest . It is located near the village of Georgenberg near the Silberhütte cross-country skiing center in the Upper Palatinate district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab in Bavaria . The Havran ( Großer Rabenberg ; 894 m) rises northeast in the Czech Republic .

At 826 meters, the ruin of the summit castle is the highest elevation in the district, serves as a lookout point and is freely accessible. The view extends from a small wooden observation tower over the ruins of Flossenbürg to the Parkstein . In addition to the remains of the castle, the rock formation on which the remains are located is particularly interesting.

Geographical location

The castle ruins are located at a height of 826 meters on the rocky summit of the Schellenberg , about 3.6 kilometers east of Flossenbürg . There are several granite towers up there that were used to build a castle. At the eastern foot of the rock towers, which extend roughly in a north-west-south-east direction, there was a lower bailey .

The best way to get to the ruins is from the Planer Höhe car park, a little east of Waldkirch, on a hiking trail.

Near the Schellenberg castle ruins are the Flossenbürg ruins and the Haselstein castle stable in a north-westerly direction and the Leuchtenberg castle ruins in a south-westerly direction.

Floor plan of the Schellenberg castle ruins
Schellenberg hunting lodge from 1812

History of the castle

The castle was founded on August 23, 1347 by the Lords of Waldau auf Waldthurn . Later this castle, which was then called Lug ins Land , was pledged to a Franconian knight named Phillip von Guttenberg . In the course of the Guttenberg feud between this and his brother Moritz on the one hand and the Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach on the other, the castle was on 11/12. July 1498 captured and razed by the margravial captain Konrad von Wirsberg .

The Waldthurners released the castle ruins afterwards, but did not allow them to be rebuilt. In 1540 Georg von Waldau and Waldthurn sold the dominion of Waldthurn and with it the ruins to Wilibald and Albrecht Eitel von Wirsberg, descendants of the castle's destroyer. Until the Walthurner line was extinguished in 1647, the Wirsberg owners of the castle remained, which was then taken over by Emperor Ferdinand III in 1648 . was sold together with Waldthurn to Wenzel von Lobkowitz . In the Lobkowitz Salbuch of 1666 it says to Schellenberg: “ There has been a fortress built on a high rock from ancient times, with a hammer or elevator and a single entrance and exit, surrounded by courtyards and curtain walls, with a large high one Rock, which is called the Hundsstein, but which is not inhabited, so the roof and the carpentry are completely gone, and no longer exist otherwise than an imaginary Hundsstein, then on the rock of the castle the walls of quite a height, so well covered and could be repaired, but the forecourt walls have completely fallen into ruin and overgrown with a very large high forest that, because of the size and thickness of the forest, nothing can be seen of the fortress until you get to the walls. All there is supposed to have been fairness in the market, which also belonged to the gracious rulership, just because everything is currently taken with forest, is also not seen from any market town. "

The Lobkowitz family owned it until 1807. Until then, there was still a hunting lodge on the Schellenberg, and in 1865 the last inhabited building was demolished. However, the remains of the castle have been preserved to this day.

literature

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Adolf Wolfgang Schuster: History of the community Flossenbürg. Vol. 1, p. 434. Flossenbürg Municipality, Flossenbürg 1990.
  2. ^ Community of Waldthurn: 775 years of Waldthurn: Heimatfest; August 7-17, 1992. Spintler, Weiden 1992, pp. 57f.