Purschenstein Castle in Neuhausen/Erzgebirge was built in the late 12th century, around 1200, probably by Boresch I (Borso). The toll and escort castle protected a salt road running from Central Germany to Bohemia. This long-distance trading route, also called the Old Bohemian Track (Alter Böhmischer Steig), ran from Leipzig past present-day Neuhausen and over the Deutscheinsiedler Saddle towards Prague.
After numerous changes of ownership, Schloss Purschenstein was owned by the von Schönberg family for more than 500 years - whose princes and counts found their last resting place in the family crypt in the castle park.
In GDR times, the castle was used as a children's home and cultural center. After the castle burned down to a large extent on April 3rd 1989, it was partially renovated between 1990 and 2001.
In 2005, the castle was bought by a Dutch businessman. Since then it has been renovated and houses a hotel, the Schlosshotel Purschenstein.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.