Burgstall Schwedenschanze

The Burgstall Schwedenschanze stands on the Galgenberg hill above the meeting point of the Chamb and Regen rivers in the Cham district of Bavaria. It was once the likely site of the Cham imperial castle, built as a hillfort in the early Middle Ages. The remains are protected as a monument because they include traces of a medieval walled settlement. The site dates back to the late 8th century and was first recorded in 976 when Emperor Otto II retreated there. By the year 1000 it belonged to the Margraves of Schweinfurt, and in 1040 King Henry III gathered his army there before marching against Bohemia. The castle served as the centre of the Margraviate of Cham until 1204, when it passed to Duke Louis I and was abandoned soon after. Parts of the area remained in use into the 15th century. Today the oval-shaped ruins stretch 180 by 300 metres and include a surviving section of the rampart 50 metres long, 18 metres wide and 7.5 metres high. Visitors can see the remnants of a dry moat and a cleared stone cellar. Nearby lay an outer settlement with workshops, a church and probably a harbour, showing how the castle once supported a small town.