Hirschstein Castle (Ruin)

The Hirschstein ruin is a castle ruin on the Großer Kornberg in the Fichtelgebirge. The Hirschstein rock castle is located on the northern path between Kirchenlamitz-Ost train station and the Kornberg summit. Johann Christoph Stierlein sketched and measured the complex. The castle is built on a rock cliff. Today, a twelve-meter-long wall is visible, which turns at a right angle for another six meters and has been preserved to a height of up to four meters. In addition to other wall remains, hints of a wall foundation of a square tower are still recognizable. The main wall consists of roughly hewn and dry-laid granite blocks.

The castle has been documented since 1223; ceramic finds indicate habitation in the 13th and 14th centuries. In 1317, Count Berthold von Henneberg enfeoffed the "five brothers, the Hirzbergers, Sir Heinrich, Fridrich, Arnolt, Eberhart and Heymann", members of the von Hirschberg family, among other things, with the "house" on the Kornberg. By the middle of the 14th century, the castle was destroyed; in 1361, Burgrave Friedrich von Nuremberg allowed the Hirschbergers to rebuild it. Despite repeated permission to rebuild, the Hirschstein remained a ruin; the Hirschbergers moved to Grünstein Castle.

During the Thirty Years' War, the ruins and vaults of the old castle served as a refuge for the rural population. By margravial order, the vaults were filled in the 18th century because "gypsies" and "other shady characters" had settled in them.