Wichsenstein Castle

Wichsenstein Castle
Gößweinstein-Wichsenstein
Site of Wichsenstein Castle – view of the castle rock above the village (March 2011)
Coordinates	49°44′17″N 11°16′03″E / 49.738080°N 11.267638°E / 49.738080; 11.267638Coordinates: 49°44′17″N 11°16′03″E / 49.738080°N 11.267638°E / 49.738080; 11.267638
Type	hill castle, summit location
Code	DE-BY
Height	587 m above sea level (NN)
Site information
Condition	burgstall (no above-ground ruins)
Site history
Built	probably around 1100
Garrison information
Occupants	Bamberg ministeriales

Wichsenstein Castle (German: Burgstall Wichsenstein) was a hill castle, once owned by noblemen, on a steep and prominent rock reef (Felsriff) outcrop above the church village of Wichsenstein in the Upper Franconian county of Forchheim in Bavaria, Germany. The castle has been completely demolished and there are no visible remains. The castle rock is now just used as a viewing point.

The site or burgstall of this hilltop castle lies in the central part of Franconian Switzerland, part of the German Central Upland range of the Franconian Jura. It is located on top of a natural monument and rocky kuppe, the Wichsenstein Rock (Wichsensteiner Fels), at a height of about 587 m above sea level (NN) on the northern edge of the village of Wichsenstein, about 20 metres above the village and about 60 metres north-northwest of the Roman Catholic parish church of Saint Erhard. and about 15 kilometres northeast of Forchheim.

In the vicinity are other old mediaeval castles. In the nearby village of Bieberbach are the remains of Bieberbach Castle, to the southwest is the prehistorical and early ancient hillfort on the Heidelberg above Äpfelbach. South of that lies the site of the Altes Schloss on the Altschlossberg hill near Affalterthal and an eponymous castle site near Oberzaunsbach on the Zaunsbacher Berg. To the west is the site of Sattelmannsburg on the Hetzelfels and Thüngfelderstein Castle and Wolkenstein Castle.