Schloss Kaibitz

Schloss Kaibitz stands on a rocky spur above the Haidenaab and Fallbach valleys in the village of Kaibitz. It is a three-winged building with a central pavilion rising three storeys under a mansard roof. The side wings are two-storey structures with hipped roofs, and the whole complex once had a moat. A house chapel occupies part of the interior, and the ground floor entrance hall is covered by cross-vaulting. The castle is worth visiting for its layered history and surviving fabric. First mentioned in the early 15th century, it passed through many hands—Löneiß ironmasters, Bavarian nobles, and later the writer Erich Ebermayer, whose scripts for the Immenhof films were written here. In 1945 Gerhart Hauptmann’s archives were temporarily stored in the building before being moved on. The present owner keeps the site private, yet parts of the estate remain open. Visitors find the central pavilion with its segment-arched doorway and the vaulted entrance hall. The eastern wing once housed stables, while the western extension contains further rooms. Beyond the main building lies a park of mature trees planted when the castle was built, and an 18th-century farm court with stone window surrounds. South of the park a ruined curtain wall of roughly hewn stone marks the line of the old outer defences.