Schloss

Schloss Hain stands in the village of Hain, a part of the market town of Küps in Upper Franconia. The village lies in the broad valley of the middle Rodach, a river once used for transport in the Middle Ages. Along this river ten noble residences were built, nine of which survive in altered form, as ruins or protected archaeological sites. The castle itself occupies a site at the eastern edge of the settlement, reached by a street called Zum Schloss. The first record of an estate here dates from 1330, when it belonged to Heinrich von Redwitz. After passing briefly to Burggraf Friedrich V of Nuremberg in 1378, the property was bought by Ulrich I of Künsberg in 1395. The Künsberg family kept it for centuries, expanding it into a manor farm in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1668 August Adolf von Künsberg added a chapel where he was buried in 1681. His son Georg Adam enlarged the house into a small castle in 1711 but died two years later. His brother Johann Christoph inherited the estate until his death in 1732. The next owner, Georg Wilhelm von Künsberg, rebuilt the castle entirely in the Baroque style in 1774. Today the castle remains in private hands and is set in a small park. Next to it stands the adjoining manor farm, which is not open to visitors. The building’s long history is visible in its changing styles and the remains of earlier phases.