Burgstall Rauschenstein

The Burgstall Rauschenstein stands in Upper Franconia on a narrow ridge that juts 70 metres east over the Kleinziegenfelder valley. The spur is defended on three sides by steep cliffs, and at its southern edge rises the Viktoriafelsen rock face. A lane from the nearby village of Arnstein ends at a small car park beside the old cemetery, which occupies part of the former outer bailey. Excavations found Hallstatt sherds showing the site was occupied more than a thousand years before the castle was built. The Rauschner knights probably raised the fortress in the 13th century; it first appears in the Rauschner register of 1410. By 1435 Heinrich Rauschner is recorded as lord of the castle, and by 1560 it belonged to Martin von Waldenfels. By the early 16th century the buildings were already empty, and the last traces vanished after the 18th-century demolition of the castle chapel of St Mauritius. Today only a four- to five-metre stretch of the original dividing wall survives beside the cemetery entrance. The rest of the curtain was levelled when the car park was laid out, leaving only small ditch remnants. Wooden figures in Arnstein church and Eichig chapel may once have stood in the castle chapel, but their origin is uncertain. The site offers quiet walks among the cliffs and a clear view down to the valley below.