Phone +49 9542 424 | ||
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Address Giechburg 1, 96110 Scheßlitz, Germany Similar Brauerei Hartmann, Krapp, Hotel Schloss Burgellern, Hotel & Brauereig Drei Kron, Gasthof Krapp | ||
Giechburg schesslitz
The Giechburg is a partly reconstructed hilltop castle located within the city district of Scheßlitz in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, Germany. The castle has given its name to a district within the city.
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History
Archeological evidence indicates that this hilltop was fortified as far back as Neolithic times. The castle enters written history in 1125, and its possession thereafter is marked by a succession of wills and bequest documents, punctuated by at least one forcible transfer in 1142. The castle entered the possession of the prince-bishops of Bamberg in 1390, and its history thereafter is closely allied to the bishopric and the city of Bamberg. From 1421 until 1459, a period of disorder associated with the Hussites in nearby Bohemia, the castle was further fortified and strengthened until it took its final form as a mature medieval castle with a keep.
As gunpowder warfare matured, the Giechburg was no longer useful as a strongpoint. It was adaptively reused by the prince-bishops, especially Johann Philipp von Gebsattel, as a hunting lodge and by later prince-bishops as the headquarters of a horse farm. However, with secularization in 1802, the Giechburg no longer had an owner with an interest in maintenance and upkeep. The former castle was used as a quarry for dressed stone, and became a ruin.
The Giechburg was acquired by the district of Bamberg in 1971, and was reconstructed as a conference and hospitality center. Signage describes the history of the castle and the topography of Upper Franconia.