Stein Castle () in
Stein an der Traun is the most important
cave castle
A cave castle () or grotto castle (German: ''Grottenburg'') 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 as water castles), such castles can o ...
in
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 ...
.
The castle comprises three elements:
* the upper house on the almost 50 metre high steeply sloping ''
nagelfluh
Conglomerate () is a sedimentary rock made up of rounded gravel-sized pieces of rock surrounded by finer-grained sediments (such as sand, silt, or clay). The larger fragments within conglomerate are called clasts, while the finer sediment surrou ...
'' 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".
The castle itself was in the possession of the
Toerring family from the 13th century to 1633 .
Albert von Toerring-Stein was the
Bishop of Regensburg
The Bishops of Regensburg (; or ) are bishops of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany. from 1613 to 1649.
Adam Lorenz von Toerring-Stein held the same office from 1663 to 1666.
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
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 ...
. In 1845
Amélie de Beauharnais
''Amélie'' (, , ) is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story ...
, 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.
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''.
External links
Schlossbrauerei SteinSchule Schloss SteinStein Castle and its famous occupant, Heinz
{{Coord, 47.986625, N, 12.546381, E, type:landmark_region:DE-BY, display=title
Castles in Bavaria
Cave castles
Traunstein (district)