Zangenstein castle ruins

Zangenstein castle ruins
	Zangenstein castle ruins
Creation time :	1360
Castle type :	Höhenburg, location
Conservation status:	considerable remains of the wall
Standing position :	Nobles
Place:	Schwarzhofen- Zangenstein
Geographical location	49 ° 23 '52.9 " N , 12 ° 18' 33" E Coordinates: 49 ° 23 '52.9 " N , 12 ° 18' 33" E
Height:	370 m above sea level NN

The Zangenstein castle ruins are the ruins of a hilltop castle on a rock at 370 m above sea level. NN above the Schwarzach in the Zangenstein district of the Schwarzhofen market in the Upper Palatinate district of Schwandorf in Bavaria .

history

Zangenstein was probably settled as early as the Stone Age. This is proven by numerous finds from prehistory and early history. The castle was built in 1360 with the permission of Count Palatine Ruprecht I by Otto der Zenger von Schwarzeneck over the Schwarzach on a granite rock on the existing bridge over the Murach . Presumably there was a previous castle, which did not yet have a stone wall, but was secured with wooden posts. This can be deduced from the document from 1360, as there is explicit mention of the stone fortification.

In 2010 the early importance of the castle rock around which the river Schwarzach flows was confirmed. An archaeological dig in the immediate vicinity of the rock discovered a 2800 year old burial mound from the Celtic period ( Hallstatt period ). The finds from the barrow were evaluated by the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments in Regensburg and can now be viewed in the Nabburg City Museum .

In their heyday between the 14th and 16th centuries, the Lords of Zenger owned besides the Zangenstein Castle and the Schwarzeneck Castle (first mentioned in writing in 1211), other castles in the Upper Palatinate, about five kilometers away . a. the castles Thanstein , Fronhof and Zangenfels , later also Forstenberg , Schwärzenberg and possibly the Altenschneeberg castle .

After the Zenger died out in the 16th century, who last tried to prevent their social decline through raids, Zangenstein Castle constantly changed hands and fell into disrepair in the 19th century. Today the castle is privately owned.

The chapel had been cared for by the Zangenstein Catholic Church Foundation since around 1873 and, according to the notarial certification and entry in the land register from 1905, it was transferred by the owners of this foundation at the time. Since the Zangenstein Catholic Church Foundation was not staffed for a long time and urgent renovation measures had to be carried out, the chapel was looked after and maintained by the "Schlosskapelle Zangenstein" association founded in 1988. In 2012 a church foundation was brought back into being and the association “Schlosskapelle Zangenstein” was dissolved. The chapel can be visited by appointment.

description

The castle ruins still show many remains of the surrounding wall , the palace , the castle gate, a shell tower and inside several heavily collapsed vaulted cellars with an ogival entrance under the palace. From the deepest cellar, an underground passage leads steeply down into an agricultural building below the castle. The castle did not have a keep .

The castle chapel on the castle rock, which was rebuilt in Baroque style by Johann Friedrich von Aufsess in 1686, is well preserved and can be seen from afar.

Zangenstein Castle Chapel - interior view

See also: Hammer Zangenstein

literature

Ursula Pfistermeister : Castles of the Upper Palatinate . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1974, ISBN 3-7917-0394-3 , p. 99.
Friedrich-Wilhelm Krahe: Castles of the German Middle Ages. Floor plan lexicon . Flechsig, Würzburg 2000, ISBN 3-88189-360-1 , p. 683.

Web links

Commons : Burgruine Zangenstein - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files