Leonrod Castle

Upstream tower of the castle ruins Leonrod

The ruin Leonrod, also called Lewenrode castle, the ruins of a moated castle on a pond in Biberttal on the edge of the hamlet Leonrod the market Dietenhofen in the district of Ansbach in Bavaria.

History

The water castle was built by the Lords of Leonrod that emerged in the 13th century as the headquarters and Ganerbenburg from the Lords of Butt village, built to secure an important road connection to Nuremberg in 1235 and was first mentioned in a Rudolf "miles de Lewenrode ".

In the 14th and 16th century, structural changes to the castle were made. From the Thirty Years War the castle was spared, but shortly thereafter, in 1651 it fell by negligence in a fire and was not rebuilt. In the 17th to 18th century hunting lodge was built. The castle is now in the possession of a heritage community that dates back to 1951 extinct noble family.

One of the members of the noble family was Franz Leopold Freiherr von Leonrod, who was from 1867 to 1905 Bishop of Eichstätt and among the most important bishops of the diocese.

Description

The by a deep moat surrounded huge castle had four buildings around a rectangular 20 -meter high donjon with high input in 9 meters high, on an area of ​​6 by 6 meters and a wall thickness of about 2 meters. In the forecastle there was the castle chapel, St. George's Chapel of 1327, and the hunter home with Walmdachbau and half-timbered upper floor. The castle is still the almost preserved keep and stately remains of walls, vaults and the fountain in the courtyard and a Vorturm. The castle site is an archaeological monument today.