Schloss Barbing

Schloss Barbing stands in the village of Barbing, a short drive from Regensburg in the Upper Palatinate region of Bavaria. Built in the 12th century as a medieval castle, it later became a Baroque palace after a 1770s remodelling. The three-storey building has a hipped roof and a rusticated round-arched doorway framed by corner pilasters. A double coat of arms above the staircase shows the alliance between Pfalz-Neuburg and the Prince-Bishopric of Regensburg. The former stables, now a library, date from 1850 and still carry their original hoist dormer. The palace passed through noble hands: the Prince-Bishops of Regensburg, King Ludwig I, and finally the Princes of Thurn and Taxis. During the Thirty Years’ War the castle was ruined and rebuilt in 1648. Between 1826 and 1832 Bishop Johann Michael Sailer used it as his summer residence. Today the building serves as the municipal offices, while the surrounding grounds remain recognisable as a Baroque ensemble. Visitors enter through the grand portal into a staircase hall adorned with the historic alliance shield. Outside, a garden wall of dressed stone piers and a rusticated gate with a pediment encloses the former park. At its centre stands a small pavilion under a tented roof, its rusticated quoins echoing the palace’s style. The library occupies the old stables, its three aisles still covered by the same hipped roof. The site offers a quiet glimpse of Bavarian Baroque architecture set within a working village.