Schloss Cronheim

Schloss Cronheim stands in the village of Cronheim, a district of Gunzenhausen in Mittelfranken. Built as a water castle, it replaced an earlier medieval stronghold on the same site. The present structure dates mainly from 1564, when a two-winged castle was begun, and from 1597, when it was extended into a four-winged complex. Two octagonal corner towers mark the east and west ends, and the whole building follows a strict north–south and east–west alignment rather than the surrounding streets. The castle is worth visiting for its layered history and surviving fragments. Parts of the medieval keep and the 12th-century allodium still stand in the village. The south tower, known as the Hungerturm, was built around 1400, while the north tower belongs to the 16th-century expansion. After centuries of ownership changes and damage in the Thirty Years War and under Prussian rule, the castle was restored in 1999 and now houses a museum and shop. Visitors find the east wing and fragments of the south and north wings still standing. Inside the south wing, the Museum Mikrokosmos Cronheim shows the village’s three religions. The restored wooden gallery in the north wing links the remaining sections. Outside, sections of the inner and outer curtain walls survive, topped with original sandstone coping. Modern therapy rooms occupy rebuilt parts of the former west wing, while the medieval gate and the church of St Maria Magdalena remain close by.