Top 15 Castles around Schönsee

Reichenstein Castle can be considered an early settlement center in the Schönsee area. It was probably built in the late 11th century. Apart from a few remnants of the walls, only the stump of the round keep remains. However, the Reichenstein ruins are still shrouded in mystery. Legends tell of white women haunting the castle, and a treasure of gold lies beneath the ruins.

Castle ruins Haus Murach "Gerunc de Mourach" appears for the first time in a document in 1110. At that time he accompanied his feudal lord, the powerful Count Berengar II of Sulzbach, on the Italian campaign of Berengar's protégé, King Henry V. After the male line of the Sulzbach family died out, the Counts of Ortenburg inherited part of their dominion with the main towns of Warberg (Burgstall near Neunburg) and Murach in 1188. Later, the Ortenburgers even called themselves Counts of Murach. The ministerial family with the leading name Gerunc remained present in Obermurach. From 1268 to 1272, Obermurach was sold to the Upper Bavarian Duke Ludwig in a series of contracts. The castle was continually expanded and became famous for its stability; the Hussites besieged it in 1428 and 1433, but were unable to take it. During the course of the 14th century, the Murachers spread out to several castles in the Upper Palatinate region, for example to Thanstein or to Flügelsberg in the Altmühl valley. In 1489, Albrecht von Murach was a member of the Löwler uprising against the Bavarian duke. Obermurach survived these turbulences and even the Thirty Years' War relatively unscathed, but this can be explained by the fact that it had lost its military importance by then. In 1805, Obermurach, which was still well preserved at the time, was partially demolished and the stones used to build houses in the village. It was only secured from 1842 by the Oberviechtach district court; today it belongs to the Free State of Bavaria. You enter the extensive outer bailey through a simple gate, which is surrounded by a still well-preserved, high ring wall. It was mainly used for utility and residential buildings. The older inner bailey, which is located a little higher up, is on the east side of the complex. A 2 m thick shield wall shields it from the attack side in the south. The main castle is dominated by the 20 m high, square keep and a large tower-like residential building. The keep, with an entrance at a height of 8.5 m, was built in the lower part from large, regular granite blocks and probably dates from the 13th century. The castle chapel was probably located to the southwest of the keep, and the remains of a semicircular wall tower can be seen to the west. Source: Extracts from www.burgenseite.de

Frauenstein Castle Ruins The village of Weiding belonged to the Frauenstein lordship in hereditary servitude, about whose beginnings nothing is known. In the second half of the 13th century, Duke Heinrich of Lower Bavaria bought Frauenstein from Fredrich the Siegenhofer. This source states that the area around the village of Weiding, which had a brick church, was largely deserted. In the 14th century, the Frauenstein lordship and thus Weiding became a fief of the King of Bohemia. The Satzenhofers, Zengers, Fuchs and the Lords of Murach followed as further owners. In 1512, Hans von Selbitz (knight, friend of Götz von Berlichingen) appears as the owner of Frauenstein Castle. On January 29, 1580, Emperor Rudolf II enfeoffed Andreas Georg von Murach auf Kürnberg und Winklarn and his wife Anna, daughter of the late Hans Fuchs zum Schneeberg, with the two desolate castles Frauenstein and Reichenstein, today preserved as the Reichenstein castle ruins, the small town of Schönsee and the villages of Weiding and others. On November 26, 1605, Hans Friedrich Fuchs received an imperial letter of fief. His hereditary possessions included the castles Frauenstein and Reichenstein, the town of Schönsee, Weiding, Pondorf, Gaisthal, Schönau, Stadlern and Schwand with the iron hammer. Today, unfortunately, only a few remains of the walls in a romantic location remain. Only the tip of an entrance arch protrudes from the overgrown piles of rubble. A little higher up, further east, a wall remains that is about to collapse rises from the collapsed material. Large piles of bricks lie everywhere. The whole thing impressively shows the decay of a castle and looks a bit like a sunken fairytale castle. Source: www.wikipedia.de

Frauenstein, one of the five mysterious vanishing points of the early Middle Ages - next to Hirštejn (Czech Republic, between Závist (Neid) and Nemanice (Wassersuppen)), Reichenstein (between Stadlern and Ebene or Böhmerwaldturm, Drachenturm (Treffelstein) and Thanstein. You have to experience them all with all their secrets in order to get to the bottom of the secrets of the “Schwarzachtaler holiday region 🤣).

Definitely worth a detour

Only a ruin remains of the once impressive Murach Castle, first mentioned in documents in 1110. The keep, built around 1250, is the best preserved part of the complex to date. On the 20-meter-high tower there is a viewing platform from which you can enjoy a wonderful panoramic view of the surrounding area. The former castle is one of the largest and most impressive castles along the Bohemian border. !Attention! The key to the keep must be picked up in advance from the castle warden, Obermurach 58, Tel. 09671/91234.

Beautiful rock formation and a great view, a trip to the Burgstall is worth it.

The tower is finished and no longer scaffolded. But honestly... you can see more and get nicer pictures from below! The tower has no entrance and cannot be visited from the inside. You can save yourself the altitude 😉