Cultural heritage D-3-6835-0150 in Berching

The former Schloss Holnstein stands in the village of Holnstein, a district of Berching in the Upper Palatinate. It was built between 1221 and 1300 by the Lords of Heideck as a successor to a hilltop fort. The site passed to the Bavarian dukes around 1300 and served as a pledge for loans, notably redeemed in 1365 by Konrad Pechtaler and Adam Ittelhofer. In 1465 Holnstein came under the Bohemian crown, then returned to Bavaria in 1479 when King Mathias enfeoffed Duke Otto. Field marshal Johann Graf von Tilly held the estate from 1631 until the Tilly line died out in 1724. The last medieval structure was demolished in 1769 by Graf Franz Ludwig von Holnstein, who built a new Baroque palace in rural style. After changing hands several times in the 19th century, the building became a home for people with disabilities run by the Dillingen Franciscan sisters from 1880. Today only scattered rubble and ashlar walls remain of the castle, together with the former tithe barn in the western part of the village. Visitors can walk the quiet lanes of Holnstein to see the church of St Georg, north and east of which the castle once stood. The preserved tithe barn marks the western edge of the site. Broken masonry and dressed stone fragments lie among grass and nettles, giving a sense of the former scale of the fortress. The village itself, with its simple farmhouses and narrow streets, offers a peaceful glimpse of rural Upper Palatinate life.