The Electoral Palace () is a

Schloss ''Schloss'' (; pl. ''Schlösser''), formerly written ''Schloß'', is the German term for a building similar to a château, palace, or manor house. Related terms appear in several Germanic languages. In the Scandinavian languages, the cogn ...

Amberg Amberg () is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate about halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. History The town was first mentioned in 1034 with the name Ammenberg. It became an important trading c ...

. After several large fires in the 17th century, only the south wing (''Neues Schloss'') remains from the once three-winged palace. It is connected through the fortified bridge ''Stadtbrille'', to the ''Zeughaus'' ( armory) across the Vils river. It was built from 1417 by

Louis III, Elector Palatine Louis III () (23 January 1378 – 30 December 1436), was an Elector Palatine of the Rhine from the house of Wittelsbach in 1410–1436. Biography Louis III was the third son of King Rupert of Germany and his wife Elisabeth of Nuremberg. Dur ...

, and replaced the Alte Veste, a Gothic building in the town center, as the electoral court. The original building on the north was added with a south wing, a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

and a

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...

, by Elector Frederick I turning it into a fortress. Its present appearance with a high voluted gable was set in 1603 by Johannes Schoch, who redesigned the Zeughaus with an added tower on the south. On 1738 horse stables were built as a western wing. Having served the Electors of the Palatinate from its construction to the abolition of the Electorate, the castle was home, since the 19th century, first to the Royal Bavarian District office and Revenue office, later the District Office of the Bavarian State Amberg District and from 1972 of the District of Amberg-Sulzbach.

References

External links

Kurfürstliches Schloss und Zeughaus
, Amberg official site (German)
Stadtbrille
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606234837/http://www.amberg.de/index.php?id=3763 , date=2014-06-06 , Amberg official site (German) Castles in Bavaria Buildings and structures in Amberg Palaces in Bavaria 1417 establishments in Europe Electoral Palatinate