Schloss Leonsberg

The remains of Schloss Leonsberg stand on a small plateau above the Isar valley in Niederbayern. The site once held a medieval castle and later a Renaissance palace, but only fragments survive today. A late medieval tower is now part of the parish church Mariä Himmelfahrt, its onion dome rising above the village. Below the plateau stretches a broad terrace, while beneath ground level a multi-part brick vaulted cellar and a medieval well remain. The tower itself was restored between 1994 and 1997, and a local inn now occupies the hilltop. The castle was built in the 13th century by the counts of Leonberg, who had inherited lands from the lords of Zulling. After the family died out in 1329, the Wittelsbach dukes took over and used the palace as an administrative seat. In 1504 it was burned during the Landshut War of Succession, then rebuilt by Duke Ludwig X. A single shipment of half a million bricks from Munich was used, some taken from nearby Burg Wolfstein. The palace became a favoured hunting lodge where dukes pursued heron, stag and boar in the Isar wetlands. Visitors walk up to the church and tower, where the late Gothic masonry blends with later repairs. The vaulted cellars beneath the terrace still show the brickwork of the 16th century. From the hilltop the view opens over the Isar meadows towards Pilsting. The inn serves local dishes, and its cellar walls echo the old palace store rooms.