Schloss Spielberg is a castle complex located in the Middle Franconian region of the Franconian Alb. It is positioned above the village of Spielberg, a part of the municipality of Gnotzheim.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the former castle of Spielberg belonged to the castle system of the Counts of Truhendingen, who acted as guardians (Vögte) of the Eichstätt Monastery in this region from the mid-12th century, possibly to reinforce their territorial claim on a donation made by Emperor Henry III to the Eichstätt Monastery in 1053. In some documents from the first half of the 12th century, a person named Tibertus (Dyepertus) de Spilberg appears as a witness to the Nuremberg Burgrave, and in one of the documents, he is mentioned together with Fridericus and Adalbertus von Truhendeingen. However, it is not immediately clear whether this Tibertus was a ministerial of the Truhendingen family or, like them, also a guardian of the Eichstätt Monastery.
A document from August 20, 1150, mentions Tibertus again (referred to as Dieppertus de Spileberc) with the remark 'Spielberg in prinipatu Oettingense' (in the lordship of Oettingen) as a witness, allowing the construction period of the castle to be narrowed down to at least the first half of the 12th century. Some researchers suggest that this Tibertus von Spielberg is identical to Dietprecht/Diephart von Gnotzheim, who was mentioned in the year 1130. There is evidence of a local nobility from the village of Gnotzheim, located below the castle, dating back to around 1099 with Pertholt von Gnozzesheim.
After the extinction of the Truhendingen family, the castle passed to the Counts of Oettingen in 1363 and later became the ancestral seat of the Oettingen-Spielberg line, which was elevated to a principality in 1734. In 1796, the castle came under Prussian rule and in 1806, it became part of Bavaria. In 1827, Prince Carl Philipp von Wrede purchased the castle and later bestowed it upon his daughter, Princess Amalie zu Oettingen-Spielberg, whose descendants owned it until Prince Albrecht zu Oettingen-Spielberg entrusted the ruined castle complex to the Steinacker family of artists in 1983.
The entire complex, dating back to around 1400, has undergone several interior renovations. Between 1625 and 1627, the new construction of the so-called 'Herrenhaus' (Palas) took place. About a century later, between 1730 and 1735, Prince Johann Alois I. von Oettingen (1707 – 1780) carried out a representative interior design of the three-story main building and the castle chapel (first mentioned in 1427) in the style of early Rococo. Finally, from 1983 to 1987, the Wemding-based sculptor and painter Ernst Steinacker (1919 – 2008), along with his family, transformed the complex into a museum and a work of art. The Schlossgalerie (Castle Gallery) now showcases the Ernst Steinacker collection, featuring artworks by Ernst Steinacker's wife, Ingrid, and their children, Veit Steinacker and Annette Steinacker-Holst, all centered around the theme of the soul and the unity of the human being. Ernst Steinacker's sculptures and paintings have since defined the castle complex, the castle courtyard, and the surrounding meadows, all forming a harmonious artistic entity.
