Schloss Fraunberg

Schloss Fraunberg stands in the village of Fraunberg in Upper Bavaria’s Erding district. It is one of the oldest moated castles in Bavaria, built beside the Strogen stream. The double ring of moats dates from before the year 1000, and the main building was raised in the 13th century. The Fraunberg family has owned the site since its beginnings and still lives there today. During the Thirty Years’ War the castle was looted and badly damaged. In 1683 Victor von Fraunberg rebuilt it, and some of the original 1683 ceilings survive inside. The castle is a three-storey structure with medieval foundations and a keep. Its moat is fed by the Strogen, and a small park and high wall surround the building. Parts of the outer wall and the bergfried still belong to the Middle Ages. The site is listed as a protected monument under two separate entries in the Bavarian heritage register. One covers the standing castle, the other the buried remains of earlier phases on the same spot. Visitors walk through the park to the outer gate and along the water-filled moat. Inside, rooms with 17th-century stucco ceilings show the craftsmanship of the 1683 rebuilding. The medieval masonry in the foundations and the tall keep give a sense of the castle’s long history. The Strogen’s steady flow keeps the moat full, and the surrounding wall and trees frame views of the countryside.