Ruined castle Nordeck

The Burgruine Nordeck stands on a rocky spur above the Steinach valley in the Franconian Forest, about two kilometres north-east of Stadtsteinach. Built in the High Middle Ages as a defensive fortress, it once included a round keep, a prison tower and other walls. The ruins remain open to walkers today. The site is worth visiting for its layers of local history. The Henneberg counts built the castle around 1100, and Bishop Eberhard II of Bamberg acquired it in 1151. In 1438 the Waldenfelser feud destroyed it, yet it was rebuilt in the 15th century. The robber knight Thomas von Absberg used it to hide captives, and a tale tells of a merchant’s son who escaped with the cook’s help. The castle finally fell in the Peasants’ War of 1525. Visitors find the remains of the round keep and prison tower set among tall trees. A short climb brings them to the spur’s edge, where the valley drops away below. Nearby on the same ridge lie the remains of another small tower and an unknown castle site. Across the valley on the Kanzel spur another ruined bastion overlooks the river.