Schloss Thurnstein

Schloss Thurnstein stands on a gentle rise south of Postmünster in rural Lower Bavaria. The present three-storey building with its two corner towers and open south front was created in the late 17th century on the site of a medieval castle. A four-sided courtyard, recently restored and laid out as formal gardens, occupies the northern side of the complex. Underground remains of the original fortress and the early-modern palace are protected as archaeological monuments. The castle’s east wing shelters the small Schlosskapelle ‘Maria Heimsuchung’, praised by connoisseurs as a masterpiece of its kind. During the Second World War the SS and the Bayreuth Gau leadership were billeted here, causing local people to fear Allied bombardment in April 1945. The Gau officials fled on 1 May, and American tanks entered the village that afternoon, narrowly avoiding a clash that would have destroyed both castle and settlement. Today the restored courtyard and surrounding wings host occasional music concerts, fire brigade festivals and film screenings. The medieval ramparts and later baroque façades frame a tranquil rural setting where visitors can walk among the gardens and explore the quiet parkland beyond the moat.