Burg Hohenlandsberg

The ruins of Hohenlandsberg stand high on a 498-metre hill in the southern Steigerwald, near Weigenheim in Mittelfranken. A medieval stronghold, it was built or bought by the Lords of Hohenlohe in the 13th century. By the 15th century the Seinsheim branch of the Schwarzenberg family owned the castle and used it to control their scattered lands around Seinsheim. During the Second Margrave War in 1553–55 the castle was wrecked and left in ruins. The fortress once had thick walls, deep cellars and modern casemates added in 1511 by Johann von Seinsheim-Schwarzenberg. In the Peasants’ War of 1525 the castle was taken but not damaged. After the Margrave War the ruins were abandoned and became known as a haunt of robber knights. Today only fragments of masonry, vaults and ramparts remain, protected as an archaeological monument. Visitors walk among the weathered stones of the old keep and along the lines of the vanished enceinte. The casemates cut into the rock still show their arched entrances. From the hilltop there are wide views over the wooded Steigerwald and the surrounding villages. The silence of the forest contrasts with the castle’s violent past.