Neustadt Castle

The Old or Inner Castle was built in the 1430s as a moated castle at the northern corner of the city under Margrave Albrecht Achilles and inhabited by him since 1451. After his death (1486), it served as the dower house for his second wife, Margravine and Electress Anna, Duchess of Saxony (1437–1512), who held court there for a quarter of a century and made it the intellectual center of the Franconian Zollernland. After the completion of the New Castle in 1626, it was demoted to an ancillary building, serving, among other things, as the residence of the district governor. The complex, which has been rebuilt several times, includes the round tower, the gatehouse, and the polygonally enclosed core building, which was extended into a horseshoe shape by irregular younger additions. In 1811, it served as a Bavarian tax office, and from 1892, as a municipal hospital. Later, schoolrooms and the local history museum were established there. Since 2008, it has housed the Aischgrund Carp Museum.

The massive round tower is late medieval in its core. Only the two lower floors are preserved in their original state. The upper section with its (paneled) half-timbered structure, conical roof, and lantern is reconstructed. The round-arch windows on the first floor date from the 19th century, when the tower served as a Roman Catholic chapel.