Hiltpoltstein Castle

Hiltpoltstein Castle
Markt Hiltpoltstein
Hiltpoltstein Castle
Coordinates	49°39′35″N 11°19′19″E / 49.659802°N 11.321948°E / 49.659802; 11.321948Coordinates: 49°39′35″N 11°19′19″E / 49.659802°N 11.321948°E / 49.659802; 11.321948
Type	hill castle, summit location
Code	DE-BY
Height	530 m above sea level (NN)
Site information
Condition	largely preserved
Site history
Built	Foundation walls 11/12th century, additions: end of the 16th century
Garrison information
Occupants	ministeriales

Hiltpoltstein Castle (German: Burg Hiltpoltstein) was originally a high mediaeval aristocratic castle dating to the 11th or 12th century. It stands in the centre of the market village of Markt Hiltpoltstein in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in the south German state of Bavaria. Its present appearance as a triple-winged building goes back to renovations carried out at the end of the 16th century.

The hilltop castle stands on a dolomite crag (530 m above sea level (NN)) and forms the heart of the village of Hiltpoltstein (518 m above sea level (NN)). The roughly 20-metre-high rocks are - like most other examples in Franconian Switzerland – the remains of fossil sponge reefs of the White Jurassic. In the vicinity there are other hilltop castles which have been built on exposed rock formations: to the east is Wildenfels Castle and the burgstall of Strahlenfels Castle, to the northeast are the ruins of Stierberg Castle, to the north are Egloffstein Castle and the ruins of Wolfsberg Castle.

Below the castle, on a plateau, is the pfleger mansion from the early 17th century (north wing, Am Schlosshof 4), which housed the offices and courtrooms of the Hiltpoltstein Pflegamt until 1806. The inner courtyard is reached via the archway of the pfleger castle. Here there is a second, east, wing in front of the castle rock. This 'modern' building (c.f. copper plate by Johann Alexander Böner) with its southwards-oriented gable was added in the second half of the 17th century, it was here on the upper storey that the pfleger had his residence. The house opposite, with a gable roof, dates to the 17th century (Am Schlosshof 6) and was first described, erroneously, as the Neues Schloss ("New Palace") on a copper plate by Christoph Melchior Roth. This name was, however, constantly used by locals to refer to the pfleger house in contrast to the castle (the Altes Schloss or "Old Palace"). To the southwest the courtyard was bounded by a low extension off the chancel to St. Matthew's Church, and, even on the copper plates by Johann Alexander Böner of 1696 and 1699, a surrounding wall can be made out east of the church. Thanks to this enclosing wall, this courtyard was used by the village population as a fortification during the course of several sieges in the Thirty Years' War. Since the 19th century, a small house has stood on the southern side of the courtyard (Am Schlosshof 8).