Eisenberg Castle Ruins, Pfronten, Germany

Eisenberg Castle is a medieval hilltop castle ruin north of Pfronten. Eisenburg Castle was built in 1313, when the nobles of Hohenegg, deriving from the West of the Allgau, were deprived by force of their castle, Loch, by the Tyrolean. In consequence, they moved a few miles further north to establish their new lordship of Eisenberg which centered round a new castle. To visualize their power towards Tyrol/Austria, which held the closely sited castle of Falkenstein, Peter of Hohenegg decided to build Eisenberg in a most impressive manner: he placed it on top of a high mountain and surrounded the main castle with an exceedingly high curtain wall which gave the impression of a huge tower. The two residential houses together with the kitchen and chapel leaned against the inside of the curtain wall. The ground to the south of the main castle was covered by the outer castle, with access to the main castle from the east; later to be walled up, but still visible.

In 1382 the nobles of Hohenegg sold their castle to Austria, which by then was a more reliable partner than anybody else around. In 1390 Austria made Frederic of Freyberg constable of the castle whose eldest son built the neighbouring castle of Hohenfreyberg in 1418-32. Though the defences of the castle were strengthened around 1500, the castle was conquered without any effort in 1525 in the course of the German Peasants' War by local peasants who damaged the castle badly.

Nevertheless the castle was rebuilt ten years later in a sumptuous way by Werner Volker of Freyberg after receiving high compensation payments from the peasants. He improved the living luxury immensely by erecting a new stair tower and adding a bakery, a bath and several mured toilets to the curtain wall. Also the main castle got a new main gate towards the west.

The end of the castle came on the 15 September 1646, shortly before the end of the Thirty Years' War, when the Austrians burnt their own castles of Eisenberg, Freyberg and Falkenstein in a policy of scorched earth. in the 1980s the 'Burgenverein Eisenberg' and the community of Eisenberg restored the fabric and established a small museum in the center of Zell.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Gerry Horton (13 months ago)
The drive to the top is pretty easy good road once you get to the top the building is really nice. Lots to see overlooking the area. Restaurants really nice hotels really cool just a wonderful place.

Uğur Öz (2 years ago)
It's a great view, there is a very nice view of the lake, river and mountain from here, I recommend it, it's a place that doesn't take much time but it's still worth it

Marcin Franc (2 years ago)
A small castle ruins (or in fact more of a tower) with a stunning view. Bear in mind that the climb is quite steep (most of it you can drive if you pay 5€ for parking though). If you want to drive uphill remember that the road is very narrow and only goes one direction (it changes every hour, you have lights that indicate it).

Lena Bereza (2 years ago)
Incredible views!! For this alone it would be worth climbing to the very top. But there is also a nice restaurant with a hotel and very tasty homemade ice cream ? You can sit on a natural balcony, even in several places. The road to the top is narrow, over a high cliff. Visitors can walk up to the public parking lot, while hotel residents can walk up a little higher. For travel, reverse works (15 minutes for travel down, 45 minutes for travel up). The cost of a hotel room is 290 euros per day. For 5 servings of ice cream (2 scoops each), coffee and 2 cocoa we paid 38 euros.

Nico Schumann (3 years ago)
A small castle ruin with an incredible 360 view. Just a few meters away (about 50 m) is a very good restaurant and a hotel.

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