Gößweinstein Castle (), also called Schloss Gößweinstein, is a

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

hilltop castle A hilltop castle is a type of hill castle that was built on the summit of a hill or mountain. In the latter case it may be termed a mountaintop castle. The term is derived from the German, ''Gipfelburg'', which is one of a number of terms used ...

Gößweinstein Gößweinstein is a municipality in the district of Forchheim in Bavaria in Germany. It lies within the region known as Franconian Switzerland. Districts History The first record of ''Goswinesteyn'' Castle is from 1076. Prior to 1102 the Hoch ...

in the county of

Forchheim Forchheim () is a Town#Germany, town in Upper Franconia () in northern Bavaria, and also the seat of the administrative Forchheim (district), district of Forchheim. Forchheim is a former royal city, and is sometimes called the Gateway to the Fr ...

in the German state of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

. It towers high above the

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

and the River Wiesent and may have been the inspiration for

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's grail castle in his opera, ''

Parsifal ''Parsifal'' ( WWV 111) is a music drama in three acts by the German composer Richard Wagner and his last composition. Wagner's own libretto for the work is freely based on the 13th-century Middle High German chivalric romance ''Parzival'' of th ...

''. The castle is a Bavarian

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, no. D-4-74-129-10.

History

The castle was probably named after its founder, Count Gozwin. He was killed in 1065, after he had invaded the territory of the Bishop of Würzburg. The first record of ''Goswinesteyn'' castle is dated to 1076. At that time,

Emperor Henry IV Henry IV (; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son of Henry III, Holy ...

had Bishop Burchard II of Halberstadt, who had become embroiled in the Saxon Rebellion, incarcerated there, a fact which suggests it was already a strong fortress. From the time of Bishop

Otto of Bamberg Otto of Bamberg (1060 or 1061 – 30 June 1139) was a German missionary and papal legate who converted much of medieval Pomerania to Christianity. He was the bishop of Bamberg from 1102 until his death. He was canonized in 1189. Early life Thr ...

there is evidence that the castle became part of the Bamberg estate. From 1348 to 1780 it was the seat of a ''

vogt An , sometimes simply advocate, (German, ), or (French, ), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institutio ...

ei'' under the bishops of

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia district in Bavaria, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main (river), Main. Bamberg had 79,000 inhabitants in ...

. In 1525, during the

Peasants' War This is a chronological list of revolts organized by peasants. Background The history of peasant wars spans over two thousand years. A variety of factors fueled the emergence of the peasant revolt phenomenon, including: * Tax resistance * So ...

it was destroyed and rebuilt. During the

Second Margrave War The Second Margrave War () was a conflict in the Holy Roman Empire between 1552 and 1555. Instigated by Albert Alcibiades, Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth, who was attempting to form a Duchy of Franconia under his ru ...

in 1553 the castle was again destroyed and later rebuilt. The castle became a Bavarian possession as a result of

secularisation In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

of the

Bishopric of Bamberg The Prince-Bishopric of Bamberg () was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire. It goes back to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bamberg established at the 1007 synod in Frankfurt, at the behest of King Henry II to further expand the spr ...

in 1803. The Bavarian state sold the castle in 1875 to Pauline Rabeneck, a landowning widow from the Manor (''Rittergut'') of Aspach near Uffenheim. In 1890 Baron Edgar of Sohlern purchased the castle and had it remodelled in the

Neogothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half of the 19th century ...

style. The

castle chapel Castle chapels () in European architecture are chapels that were built within a castle. They fulfilled the religious requirements of the castle lord and his retinue, while also sometimes serving as a burial site. Because the construction of suc ...

also has Late Gothic statues.

Today

The castle is still in the hands of the von Sohlen family. It houses a medieval museum which may be visited for a small entrance fee and there is a beer garden and terrace with good views over the Wiesent valley and village of Gößweinstein.''Über die Burg Gößweinstein''
at www.burg-goessweinstein.de, retrieved 17 Sep 2016.

References

Literature

* Ursula Pfistermeister: ''Wehrhaftes Franken - Band 3: Burgen, Kirchenburgen, Stadtmauern um Bamberg, Bayreuth und Coburg'', Fachverlag Hans Carl GmbH, Nuremberg, 2002, , pp. 56–58. * Günter Dippold: ''Zur Geschichte von Burg und Ort Gößweinstein''. In: Günter Dippold (Hrsg.): ''Gößweinstein. Sakrale Mitte der Fränkischen Schweiz''. Staffelstein, 1998, , pp. 12–28. * Gustav Voit, Brigitte Kaulich, Walter Rüfer: ''Vom Land im Gebirg zur Fränkischen Schweiz - Eine Landschaft wird entdeckt''. (Schriftenreihe des Fränkische-Schweiz-Vereins, Band 8) Verlag Palm und Enke, Erlangen, 1992, , pp. 103–108. * Björn-Uwe Abels, Joachim Zeune, et al.: ''Führer zu archäologischen Denkmälern in Deutschland, Band 20: Fränkische Schweiz''. Konrad Theiss Verlag GmbH und Co., Stuttgart, 1990, , pp. 162–164. * Hellmut Kunstmann: ''Die Burgen der östlichen Fränkischen Schweiz''. Kommissionsverlag Ferdinand Schöningh, Wurzburg, 1965, pp. 26–63.

External links

Home page of Gößweinstein Castle

Further information at Burgenstraße

Foracheim: Gößweinstein Castle

Artist's impression
by Wolfgang Braun {{Castles in the county of Forchheim Hill castles Registered historic buildings and monuments in Bavaria Forchheim (district) Gößweinstein