Burg Unter-Falkenstein: A Medieval Hilltop Castle in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Duchy of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Burg Unter-Falkenstein, also called Neu-Falkenstein, is a medieval hilltop castle in Germany near Flintsbach am Inn, probably founded around 1300 as the successor to the destroyed Burg Ober-Falkenstein. Twelfth- and thirteenth-century documents do not identify a second Falkenstein castle, so the earlier history of the present site remains uncertain.
From Falkenstein stronghold to Bavarian court
After the Falkenstein family became extinct, Unter-Falkenstein became a ducal Bavarian judicial seat. Following the Wittelsbach inheritance division of 1310, the dynasty that ruled Bavaria for centuries, the castle belonged to Duke Rudolf I.
Changing noble owners
Duke Albrecht IV sold the castle and court in 1501 to the Hofer family of Schwaz, whose wealth came from mining. Duke Wilhelm IV bought Unter-Falkenstein back in 1535, but sold it again in 1556 to Georg Hundt of Lauterbach. The property then passed to the Lords of Hundt.
Through the Freiherren von Ruepp, the castle came in 1768 to Count Johann Max V von Preysing-Hohenaschau. The Preysing lordship court of Falkenstein also covered the Hofmarks of Brannenburg, Holzhausen, and Redenfelden. A Hofmark was a territorial lordship with local administrative and judicial rights. Count Max V later moved the judicial seat to Brannenburg.
Fire, decline, and preservation
The main castle burned on 25 May 1784, followed by the outer bailey on 5 October 1789. A Preysing lordship court continued at Brannenburg from 1814 to 1827, while the last aristocratic privileges were abolished during the revolutionary changes of 1848.
Unter-Falkenstein was sold to a Sardinian envoy in 1849, to the Württembergische Aktiengesellschaft O. Steinbeiß & Co. in 1863, and to the Düsseldorf company Henkel in 1932. The residential tower remained inhabited until 2009, when the Environmental, Cultural, and Social Foundation in the District of Rosenheim acquired the castle. The complex was renovated between 2016 and 2019.
The castle is protected as an architectural monument of Flintsbach am Inn and is also recorded as an archaeological monument containing underground medieval and early-modern remains in the area of the ruins. On 3 June 2024, heavy rain connected with flooding in southern Germany caused part of the outer-bailey wall to slide northward. Fifty residents below the castle were evacuated, and the damaged wall is being rebuilt partly with surviving masonry.
Remains
Burg Unter-Falkenstein occupies a projecting ridge at about 536.2 metres above sea level, at the foot of the Grosser Madron and Kleiner Madron. The Burgstall of Ober-Falkenstein lies above it. The complex is arranged as a core castle, the principal fortified enclosure, and an outer bailey, a secondary enclosure used for service, residential, or defensive purposes. Substantial parts of the core castle survive, while the outer bailey is preserved mainly through foundation walls and ruins.
Core castle
The surviving core castle includes a residential tower and a shield wall. A shield wall is a particularly strong defensive wall designed to protect the most exposed side of a castle. Underground medieval and early-modern remains extend within the area of the castle ruins, preserving evidence of the complex’s earlier phases beneath the standing structures.
Outer bailey wall
The outer bailey survives chiefly as ruined and foundational remains. Flood-related ground movement on 3 June 2024 damaged part of its wall, which slid northward. Reconstruction incorporates some of the masonry that survived the collapse.
