Details
Founded: c. 1486Category: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Habsburg Dynasty (Germany)
User Reviews
Kohlstein Castle is situated on a rocky hillock in the village of Kohlstein northwest of Tüchersfeld and is the most recently built castle in Franconian Switzerland. It is also one of the smallest and most romantic castles. Today it is in private ownership and may not be visited.
The castle may have been built around 1486 by Conz of Hirschaid. It was probably originally an allodial estate of the Lords of Hirschaid. Later, feudal sovereignty passed to the Bishopric of Bamberg.
In 1525 was destroyed in the Peasants' War. It was immediately rebuilt. In 1607/1608 the Hirschaid family had to sell their barony as they were short of money. On 23 May 1608 Wolf Philipp Groß von Trockau zu Tüchersfeld was enfeoffed with the castle and lordship. During the Thirty Years' War the castle appears to have been destroyed because in 1636 a modest new structure was built. It was comprehensively renovated between 1707 and 1714.
A garden house was probably built at this time, which was converted in 1743 into a castle and village chapel.
The Groß von Trockau family, who called themselves from 1658 zu Kohlstein und Tüchersfeld, had to sell the castle in 1713 to Otto Philipp von Gutenberg. After his death, his niece, Maria Anna Groß von Trockau, inherited the castle and estate.
The current structure, a residential building with attached tower, dates mainly to the 18th century. The tower was renovated in 1890.
In 1961 the Groß von Trockau family sold the castle, but not its associated chapel. The castle has had several owners since then.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.
