Burgstall Kaibitz

The Burgstall Kaibitz is a small ruined site in the village of Kaibitz, part of Kemnath in the Upper Palatinate. It sits on the eastern slope of a hill above the Fallbach valley, about 350 metres north-north-west of Schloss Kaibitz. The remains consist of a square island, twelve metres by twelve, raised half a metre above a half-moon pond. A protected neo-Gothic chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary stands on the island, built in 1822. The pond is fed by a spring on the hillside and its water flows through a channel into the millrace below. High earth banks enclose the water on three sides, giving the scene a quiet, enclosed feel. A seven-metre bridge of rough-hewn stone links the island to the shore, built without mortar in the local tradition. Visitors reach the site along quiet lanes that climb through farmland. The chapel is locked, but the island can be walked round on the grassy banks. The view across the pond and up to the surrounding fields shows how the spot once commanded the valley below.