Wenzelschloss

Lauf Castle stands beside the Pegnitz in the Franconian town of Lauf, a medieval fortress rebuilt in the 14th century. Emperor Charles IV ordered the stronghold raised in 1356 on older foundations while travelling between Prague and Nuremberg. A stone statue of Saint Wenceslas, patron of the Czechs, still guards the gate. The castle once formed part of the Bohemian Palatinate, a stretch of Crown lands that stretched towards Bavaria. In 1373 Charles exchanged Lauf and parts of the Palatinate for the Margraviate of Brandenburg. The castle’s greatest treasure is the hall of arms. In 1934 restorers peeled back layers of paint and uncovered 112 coats of arms carved for Bohemian, Moravian and Silesian nobles. The collection is the most important surviving display of secular and ecclesiastical heraldry from the Bohemian crown. Charles IV’s son, King Wenceslaus IV, lost the remainder of the Palatinate in 1401, but the armorial hall remains intact. Visitors enter beneath the Wenceslas statue into a courtyard framed by red-brick walls. Inside, the hall of arms stretches across one wing, its painted shields arranged in orderly rows. Outside, the Pegnitz curves past the castle’s water defences, and the old town’s timbered houses line the riverbank. Lauf’s quiet streets and the castle’s looming silhouette recall the days when emperors and dukes swapped territories along this route.