Schloss Neidstein is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

located in the

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (; , , ) is an administrative district in the east of Bavaria, Germany. It consists of seven districts and 226 municipalities, including three cities. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and nume ...

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, in the municipality of Etzelwang. It was the seat of a Hofmark (a lower legal entity) during the

Palatinate-Sulzbach Palatinate-Sulzbach was the name of two separate states of the Holy Roman Empire located in modern Amberg-Sulzbach, Bavaria, Germany, ruled by a branch of the House of Wittelsbach. Palatinate-Sulzbach (1569–1604) Palatinate-Sulzbach wa ...

period (16th–18th centuries). The castle, with its 165 hectares of forest and meadows, is now part of the Schergenbuck reserve. Neidstein was the residence of the Brandt family since 1466. In 1979, the castle was inherited by the American

administrative law judge An administrative law judge (ALJ) in the United States is a judge and trier of fact who both presides over trials and adjudicates claims or disputes involving administrative law, thus involving administrative units of the executive branch of go ...

Theodor P. Von Brand from his uncle Dr. Philipp Theodor Freiherr von Brand. After his death in 2004, the von Brand heirs sold the castle in 2006 to the actor

Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Nicolas Cage, various accolades, including an Academy A ...

. In 2009, Cage sold the castle to a lawyer in

Amberg Amberg () is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in the Upper Palatinate about halfway between Regensburg and Bayreuth. History The town was first mentioned in 1034 with the name Ammenberg. It became an important trading c ...

. The castle was carefully modernised and is now used as a venue for workshops and conferences e.g. by the

Fraunhofer Society The Fraunhofer Society () is a German publicly-owned research organization with 76institutes spread throughout Germany, each focusing on different fields of applied science (as opposed to the Max Planck Society, which works primarily on Basic re ...

Building

The ruins of the original Schloss Neidstein are located on top of the peak above the New Castle. The New Castle — an elongated tract with the east gate and a round tower in the west — was designed by Jobst Brand(t) and completed in 1513. Today's appearance, especially that of the gables, is due to a renovation between 1855 and 1860. Several wall reliefs that show themes from the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

were carved by Georg Schweiger (17th century) from Amberg.

Library and archives

The castle's extensive archives date back to the 16th century, and have been available at the state archives in Amberg since 2006. A substantial part of the area housing the archives was supposedly used to accommodate horses of French troops passing through in 1796.Philipp Theodor Freiherr von Brand: "900 Jahre oberpfälzische Geschichte auf Burg und Schloß Neidstein", in: ''Oberpfälzer Heimat'' 9, s.l., 1964, p. 63 The whereabouts of the castle's library were unknown until an article in the ''

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung The (; ''FAZ''; "Frankfurt General Newspaper") is a German newspaper founded in 1949. It is published daily in Frankfurt and is considered a newspaper of record for Germany. Its Sunday edition is the ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung'' ( ...

'' (28 October 2006, p. 48) announced that a large amount of literature would be auctioned off in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in November 2006.

References

External links

official website of Schloss Neidstein (in German)

Castles in Bavaria Buildings and structures in Amberg-Sulzbach {{Bavaria-struct-stub