Burg Freudenberg

Burg Freudenberg is a ruined hillside castle above the town of Freudenberg on the River Main. It stands on a wooded slope at 252 metres, between two small streams that feed into the river 120 metres below. The ruins overlook the town and the sweeping bend of the Main valley. The castle was begun in 1196–97 by Bishop Heinrich III of Würzburg to secure his interests after the Staufen family’s lands passed to the Welfs. It passed through the Lords of Dürn and the Counts of Wertheim, who enlarged it into a stronghold in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Erasmus of Wertheim built the four-storey gun tower, a massive outer wall and three small round towers. After the Wertheims died out in 1556 the castle decayed and was forgotten until a post-war citizens’ group cleared the site and restored parts in the 1990s. Visitors walk through the remains of the outer defences and three gateways to reach the triangular inner ward. The famous three-stage great keep rises 32 metres, its lower parts of rough-hewn blocks from the 13th century. Nearby stands the late-medieval great hall and a second stone building of similar size. The gun tower overlooks the river, and a two-yearly open-air theatre occupies the courtyard in odd-numbered years. A path above the castle passes the nearby Burgstall Räuberschlösschen.