Burgstall Peißenberg

The Burgstall Peißenberg stands on a 707-metre ridge spur on the southern slope of the Hohenpeißenberg. It overlooks the valley below and the village of Peißenberg. The site once held a small medieval spur castle, now reduced to foundations and earthworks. A later chapel, St Georg, still occupies part of the platform. The castle first appears in records in 1050 as ‘castrum Bisinperc’. By the 12th century it belonged to a Welf ministerial family who also helped found Rottenbuch and Steingaden monasteries. The chapel’s walls and ceiling still carry paintings from about 1400. In 1388 the castle was demolished during a war, yet the chapel survived intact. Visitors walk a rectangular plateau 60 metres long and 25 metres wide. A deep ditch separates the main ward from the outer courtyard. South of the ruins a narrow terrace once acted as an outer defence. Inside the chapel’s nave, low stone courses mark where the castle walls once stood. The view across the valley shows why this spur was chosen for a fortress.