Burgstall Dietrichstein | |
---|---|
Diederichstein | |
Pretzfeld-Lützelsdorf-„Diederichstein“ | |
Coordinates | 49°45′24″N 11°12′10″E / 49.756545°N 11.202906°ECoordinates: 49°45′24″N 11°12′10″E / 49.756545°N 11.202906°E |
Type | Hill castle, valley edge |
Code | DE-BY |
Height | 454 m above sea level (NN) |
Site information | |
Condition | Collapsed, a few surviving wall remains |
Site history | |
Built | 1000 to 1100 |
The burgstall of Dietrichstein Castle, also called the Diederichstein Ruins (Ruine Diederichstein), is the site of an old, probably high mediaeval, aristocratic, castle, situated high above the valley of the River Trubach in the municipality of Pretzfeld in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in Bavaria, Germany.
The burgstall is freely accessible at all times and is used today as a viewing point.
The small, former hill castle is located within the Franconian Switzerland-Veldenstein Forest Nature Park about 750 metres north-northeast of the village of Lützelsdorf. It stands at a height of about 450 m above sea level (NN) on the Diederichstein rocks whose sides drop vertically into the valley of the Trubach about eleven kilometres northeast of Forchheim.
Close by, on the Kreuzberg, lies another burgstall or former castle site, the Schlüsselstein, probably founded by the Schlüsselbergs. Immediately west of Ebermannstadt is yet another, unnamed, burgstall, designed as a high motte. To the east lay the former castle of Wolkenstein, today a ruin with just a few surviving remains, and the fallen tower castle of Eberhardstein on a rock pinnacle. There is another castle site, Stadtmers Bürg, on the Hetzelfels rocks. A bit further away is the old castle site of Wichsenstein above the eponymous village of Wichsenstein, today an observation point with far-reaching views.