Wadendorf Castle

Wadendorf Castle is located on a hill in the village of the same name, in the immediate vicinity of the Wiesent river. Wadendorf is a district of the municipality of Plankenfels in the Upper Franconian district of Bayreuth in Bavaria.

Present are a two-story main building, the southern curtain wall with two round towers, and remnants of the gatehouse.

The hilltop castle was first mentioned in a document from 1453, in which the Bishop of Bamberg, Anton von Rotenhan (1431–1459), granted permission to the brothers Bartholomäus and Andreas von Königsfeld to convert their house in Wadendorf into a castle. It is therefore assumed that a manor house already existed at that time. The new castle was enfeoffed to the Bishop of Bamberg.

In 1525, the castle was severely damaged during the German Peasants' War. The owner, Klaus von Königsfeld, was awarded compensation of 2060 guilders.

In 1580/1581, Wilhelm von Königsfeld sold the lordship to Sebastian Neustetter-Stürmer, bailiff of Hassfurt. In 1590, the lordship came into the possession of Pankraz von und zu Mengersdorf through purchase, and in 1601 to Daniel von Aufseß.

During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was destroyed in 1638. The time of its later reconstruction is not known.

In 1650, Hans Wilhelm von Aufseß zu Wüstenstein sold the lordship to Eva von Schlammersdorf. Wadendorf remained in the possession of the von Schlammersdorf family until 1785. In that year, the lordship came into the possession of Baroness Johanna Sophia Christine von Egloffstein through purchase. Since 1786, it was entirely owned by the Egloffstein family, and in 1852, the complex passed into bourgeois ownership. Extensive restoration work was carried out between 1986 and 1990.