Pottenstein Castle

Pottenstein Castle
Pottenstein
Pottenstein Castle seen from the south
Coordinates	49°46′12″N 11°24′29″E / 49.769939°N 11.408129°E / 49.769939; 11.408129Coordinates: 49°46′12″N 11°24′29″E / 49.769939°N 11.408129°E / 49.769939; 11.408129
Type	hill castle, spur castle
Code	DE-BY
Height	410 m above sea level (NN)
Site information
Condition	partly preserved
Site history
Built	between 1057 and 1070
Garrison information
Occupants	free nobles; later an administrative castle of the Bishopric of Bamberg

Pottenstein Castle (German: Burg Pottenstein) is one of the oldest castles in Franconian Switzerland, a region in the German state of Bavaria. It stands on a rock above the eponymous town of Pottenstein in the Upper Franconian county of Bayreuth. The castle is home to a museum and both may be visited for a fee.

The spur castle is located within the Franconian Switzerland-Veldenstein Forest Nature Park at a height of roughly 410 metres on a west-facing hill spur between the valleys of the Püttlach and the Weihersbach, immediately southeast and above the town of Pottenstein, about 22 kilometres southwest of Bayreuth.

In the vicinity are other castles: to the west are Gößweinstein Castle, Kohlstein Castle and the ruins of the Upper and Lower Castles in Tüchersfeld, to the east are the ruins of Hollenberg Castle and sites of Wartberg and Böheimstein castles.

Around 1050, the village of Pottenstein belonged to Margrave Otto of Schweinfurt and, after his death in 1057, went to his third daughter, Judith. Judith's first marriage was to Duke Cuno of Bavaria. Cuno died in 1055 and in 1057 Judith married Boto, the younger brother of Count Palatine Aribo II of the edelfrei family of the Aribonids. In 1070 h referred to himself as comes de Potensteine , i.e. the Count of Pottenstein.