Wasserschloss Tüschnitz

The old moated castle of Tüschnitz once stood in the centre of the village, beside the river Rodach in Upper Franconia. The site was chosen because the river carried trade in the Middle Ages. Ten noble houses were built along the Rodach valley, nine of which survive in altered form, as ruins or as archaeological remains. The castle’s outline is still marked by the street called Schloßring.

A fortified farm belonging to a knight named Boppo was recorded in 1288. By the mid-14th century the Redwitz family had enlarged it into a proper moated castle. Excavations by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Conservation uncovered five building phases, the oldest being a 14th-century stone tower with walls eleven metres by twelve. The tower stood on top of earlier foundations and was later joined by further wings. During the Peasants’ War of 1525 the castle was wrecked, rebuilt, and then given as a Bamberg bishop’s fief in 1531. After changing hands several times it was finally destroyed in 1632 by stray soldiers of the Thirty Years War.

Only one farm building remains today, its ground floor walls still medieval. The half-timbered upper storey and heavy hipped roof date from the 18th century. The castle site itself has been left open since 1632. Archaeologists have raised the exposed foundations so they rise above the ground, turning the spot into a protected archaeological monument.