German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official or co-official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol in Italy, the German-speaking Community of Belgium, and Liechtenstein. It is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg and a co-official language in the Opole Voivodeship in Poland. The languages which are most similar to German are the other members of the West Germanic language branch: Afrikaans, Dutch, English, the Frisian languages, Low German/Low Saxon, Luxembourgish, and Yiddish. There are also strong similarities in vocabulary with Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, although those belong to the North Germanic group. German is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English.
A cave castle or grotto castle is a residential or refuge castle that has been built into a natural cave. It falls within the category of hill castles. Unlike other types, such castles can only be assaulted from the front, or by drilling through the rock above; the gateway is usually located in the middle of a rock face, which makes it much more difficult to penetrate. Archaeological discoveries have revealed that caves were used as places of refuge as early as the Stone Age. The first medieval cave castles emerged in the 11th and 12th centuries. In the 14th and 15th centuries this type became more widespread, especially in certain parts of France and Switzerland.
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central and Western Europe, lying between the Baltic and North Seas to the north and the Alps, Lake Constance and the High Rhine to the south. It borders Denmark to the north, Poland and the Czech Republic to the east, Austria and Switzerland to the south, France to the southwest, and Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands to the west.
The castle comprises three elements:
the upper house on the almost 50 metre high steeply sloping nagelfluh rock face;
the cave castle beneath it, which hides a passage to the Traun valley in the rock;
the lower house in Stein itself.
History
The origins of the upper house are not totally clear. It may have stemmed from a fortification dating to the Roman or Celtic period. Stein was first recorded in 1135. The romantic figure of the legendary robber knight, Hainz von Stein dem Wilden, is closely associated with the castle. He is supposed to have lived in the castle in the early 13th century and was written about for the first time by Lorenz Huebner in 1783 in a "tragic drama about the fatherland".
Count Carl Fugger von Kirchberg bought the property from the Toerrings in 1633. Later it passed by marriage to the lords (Freiherren) of Lösch.
In 1818 a 2nd class patrimonial court was established in the old Hofmark in the wake of reforms in Bavaria. In 1845 Amélie de Beauharnais, widow of the emperor of Brazil, bought Stein Castle for herself and her daughter. In 1848 she ceded the Stein Court to the state as compensation.
Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a landlocked federal state of Germany, occupying its southeastern corner. With an area of 70,550.19 square kilometres, Bavaria is the largest German state by land area comprising roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany. With 13 million inhabitants, it is Germany's second-most-populous state after North Rhine-Westphalia. Bavaria's main cities are Munich, Nuremberg and Augsburg.
In 1890 Stein Castle went to Count Joseph zu Arco-Zinneberg. In 1928 the Arco-Zinneberg had to cut down the great St. George's Forest in order to sell the wood to get out of debt. Despite that they had to sell up, the forest was possessed by the state and was immediately reforested.
Upper house, rock castle and lower house are today the property of the newly built Stein Castle Brewery (Schlossbrauerei Stein), founded in 1907, which has been in the ownership of the Wiskott family since 1934. The lower house in Stein has housed a private boarding school since 1948, the Schule Schloss Stein.
Westerburg is a small town of roughly 6,000 inhabitants in the Westerwaldkreis in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The town is named after the castle built on a hill above the mediaeval town centre
Schule Schloss Salem is a boarding school with campuses in Salem and Überlingen in Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany. It is considered one of the most elite schools in Europe.
Heusenstamm is a town of over 18,000 people in the Offenbach district in the Regierungsbezirk of Darmstadt in Hesse, Germany.
The Bibra family was one of the leading Uradel families in Franconia and present day Thuringia from the mid-15th century to about 1600. Later on the family rose from Reichsritter to Reichsfreiherr. After the Holy Roman Empire dissolved, they were made ‘’Freiherr’‘ (Barons) of Bavaria and Bohemia.
Princess Mechtilde Lichnowsky, originally Mechtilde Christiane Marie Gräfin von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, later Mechtilde Peto was a German author, married to Karl Max, Fürst von Lichnowsky, 6th Prince and 8th Count Lichnowsky (1860–1928) who succeeded his father in 1901, and served as Imperial German Ambassador to the Court of St. James's, 1912-1914.
The Schloss Kaltenberg is a castle in the village of Geltendorf in Upper Bavaria, Germany. The castle was built in 1292 and is currently under the proprietorship of Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, the great-grandson of the last king of Bavaria, Ludwig III.
Münchenstein Castle is a landmark above the village centre of Münchenstein, in the canton of Basel-Land in Switzerland. The ruins of the castle (Schloss) can still be visited and viewed, but are under private ownership.
Abensberg und Traun is the name of an Austrian noble family, originally from the Upper Austrian Traungau, and one of the oldest extant aristocratic families in Central Europe.
Rapperswil Castle is a castle, built in the early 13th century AD by the House of Rapperswil in the former independent city of Rapperswil.
Entenstein Castle is a medieval castle surrounded by a moat situated in the center of the town of Schliengen. Schliengen is located in the district of Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg, in the very south-west of Germany in the proximity of the Black Forrest.
Stein Castle is a Saxon castle located southeast of Zwickau in the village of Stein in the municipality of Hartenstein on the rocky banks of the Zwickauer Mulde in the east German state of Saxony.
Gräfenstein Castle is a ruined rock castle about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of the village of Merzalben in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is in the county of Südwestpfalz within the Palatine Forest and is often called Merzalber Schloss. It is built on a rock plateau 12 metres (39 ft) high at an elevation of 447 metres (1,467 ft) above sea level.
Seefeld Castle is a castle in Seefeld, Bavaria that has its origins in a 13th-century building but has since been extensively modified. Today it serves in part as a museum. A large park extends to the south of the castle.
Schloss Herrngiersdorf is the building that houses the Schlossbrauerei in Herrngiersdorf, Bavaria, Germany. The brewery has its origins in a 12th-century abbey brewery, and describes itself as the oldest privately owned brewery in the world. The building dates to 1709.
Schloss Warthausen is a schloss near the town of Warthausen in Germany. It has been home to several famous historical personages, including authors Christoph Martin Wieland and Sophie von La Roche, and painter Johann Heinrich Tischbein. It was the traditional home of the Counts of Stadion-Warthausen. It is the subject of an article, The Gardens at Schloss Warthausen and Their Place in German Literature.
Loch Castle is a protected ruin in the municipality of Loch in the Bavarian market borough of Nittendorf. It is also the symbol of Eichhofen, a village within the borough.
Uster Castle is a hill castle which was built probably around 1200 AD by the House of Rapperswil in the Swiss municipality of Uster in the Canton of Zürich. Since 1995 it houses a boarding school.
Schloss Schöneck is a castle which stands on a rock outcrop in the Ehrbach Gorge in the borough of Boppard in the Hunsrück mountains of Germany.
Schloss Rohrau is a castle in the town of Rohrau in Lower Austria, bordering on Burgenland. The building houses the art collection of the counts of Harrach.
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