Burgellern Castle

In 1756, the chairman of the Cathedral Chapter, Marquard Wilhelm Graf von Schönborn, Provost of Bamberg Cathedral, stayed in Burgellern for an extended period to advance the construction of the new castle as a princely-episcopal summer residence. The main house of the castle was built in 1758, and the Vogtshaus (bailiff's house) in 1772.

In November 1802, as a result of secularization, the Cathedral Chapter's property in Burgellern passed into the ownership of the Electorate of Bavaria. By deed of May 24, 1819, the state administration sold the Burgellern estate for 38,025 Gulden to the Jewish court factor Seilmann Samuel Heßlein of Bamberg.

Heßlein sold it in the same year to Lieutenant General Leopold Freiherr von Buseck, residing in Bamberg, a brother of the last Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, who was deprived of his sovereignty in 1802.

However, his sons Karl and Fritz, who died unmarried in 1860 and 1866, moved into the castle. During this period of Buseck ownership, the castle must have undergone significant alterations. The little Baroque disappeared, and the large mansard roof had to make way for a lower roof.

In 1853, the Buseck brothers were visited by King Maximilian II, who was friends with their family.

After the death of the Buseck brothers, the inheritance passed to the son of their married sister Caroline von Thünefeld, née von Buseck. This Rudolf von Thünefeld, a young boy at the time of the inheritance, moved to Burgellern in the 1880s, lived a quiet life, built a water pipeline, and died unmarried on April 12, 1906.

The inheritance passed through a somewhat complicated entailment to a related family von Bodeck, who, however, could not maintain the indebted estate. It was offered for sale piecemeal.

In 1908, the Austrian First Lieutenant Gottlieb Hertschik, originally from Altbunzlau in Bohemia and having served in the Egyptian military, acquired it for 100,000 Goldmark. The disadvantage of this acquisition was probably that not enough agricultural land was purchased with it, so that in times of currency devaluation, there was no longer a sufficient livelihood.

Thus, after the inflation of 1932, the castle passed into the ownership of the Bavarian State. In 1936, the state established a mother's convalescent home on behalf of the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV), and during the Second World War, an outpatient clinic of the State Women's Hospital Bamberg was housed there.

In 1948, the pulmonologist Dr. Schicht rented the castle premises, operating a lung sanatorium, but was deterred by too many health authority regulations. After years of vacancy, the Morija Mission moved in in 1978, intending to establish a retirement home, but also withdrew in the first months of 1982. Most recently, the Topf couple operated a Christian conference center in the castle.

Since approximately 1994, Burgellern Castle stood empty and fell into disrepair. The park in its original version is now only recognizable with a lot of imagination.

In June 2005, the castle was acquired by the Kastner family from Bayreuth and has since been converted into a hotel and restaurant.