Château Bergstetten

Schloss Bergstetten stands in the village of Bergstetten, part of the market town of Laaber in the Regensburg district of Bavaria. It is a protected historic building on Schlossstrasse, surrounded by the quiet lanes of a small rural community. The site includes both the main castle and archaeological traces of earlier structures from the early modern period. A two-storey Baroque building with a hipped roof, it has plain plaster decoration and corner pilasters. A small gatehouse and arched gateway give access to the courtyard. The castle first appears in records in 1627, when Simon de Labrique bought a farm here and received lower jurisdiction from Duke Wolfgang Wilhelm. The present structure dates from 1723, as shown on the coat-of-arms tablet. Michael von Drechsel owned it from about 1700 until the early 19th century, when it passed into other private hands. Today the building remains in private ownership, preserving its original character. Visitors approach through the arched gateway into a rectangular courtyard. The two wings of the castle frame the space, their plain façades lit by evenly spaced windows. The gatehouse on the right completes the composition, while the coat-of-arms above the arch marks the year of construction. The surrounding village offers few distractions, allowing the modest Baroque manor to stand at the centre of a quiet rural scene.