Geyso Castle (Mansbach)

The castle is a stately rectangular building with high curved gables. It was built between 1577 and 1578. At the rear is an octagonal stair tower, and its Renaissance portal features figurative symbolic sculptures; next to it is the bay window with figurative and ornamental reliefs.

A castle that had been erected here in the 13th century was destroyed around 1280 by Abbot Bertho IV of Fulda. At the same time, the entire place came under the feudal lordship of the monastery. However, the von Mansbach family retained jurisdiction. Finally, in 1577, the family built the Geyso Castle Mansbach. In 1652, the Wilhelm branch of the von Mansbach family sold the entire complex to the Hessian Lieutenant General Johann von Geyso. His grandson Valentin von Geyso had the entire castle rebuilt in the third quarter of the 17th century, giving it its current rectangular shape. In 1878, further alterations were made to the castle until it finally reached the state in which it is still known today. From 1918 onwards, the complex was then used, among other things, as a stud farm for various breeds.

Meanwhile, Geyso Castle Mansbach has passed into the possession of the Federal Republic of Germany, but still houses the administration of the vocational school for horse breeding and husbandry, as well as foal rearing. However, only a half-timbered annex, which houses a local history museum, can be visited. A baroque cavalier's house, which was located east of the castle, had to be demolished in 1968 due to dilapidation.

The local history room, which was established by the Mansbach-Soislieden e.V. tourist association, is open to the public.