Burgstall Liebenstein

The Burgstall Liebenstein stands on a steep, rocky hilltop in the northern Bavarian Forest, near the village of Liebenstein. It is reached by a short walk up the Alten Schlossberg, a spur of the Haidstein ridge. The site overlooks the Brücklbach valley, rising about seventy metres above it. Built around 1150 by the ministerial family von Liebenstein, the castle passed to the Wittelsbachs in 1204. By 1320 it was held by the Sattelboger family, who lost it after raids in 1381. Rebuilt after Hussite destruction in 1452, it changed hands repeatedly until Heinrich VI. Nothafft abandoned it in 1518. Today only faint stone traces remain. Visitors find a quiet clearing on the hilltop with scant foundations and a low earth rampart. The surrounding forest stretches to the Haidstein summit and the Brücklbach gorge below. Nearby lie other medieval sites such as the Burgstall Haidstein and the ruins of Runding.