Oberlauterbach Castle

The entire complex of buildings can be divided into two parts. The older residential building in the southwest corner, surrounded by a moat, is adjoined to the east by the newer economic buildings, forester's house, and administrator's house, which enclose an irregularly quadrangular inner courtyard open to the west. The outbuildings have been partially rebuilt in modern times. On the two-story, unadorned administrator's house, there is a coat of arms of the Mairhofen family with an inscription from 1715.

The residential building on the south side is enclosed by a moat, over which a masonry bridge leads. On this, the year 1788. To the north, a narrow zwinger is laid out. The low zwinger wall has loopholes and wall slits. The residential building has an irregular floor plan. To an older longitudinal building, as revealed by the architectural-historical analysis, two small transverse wings are attached on the eastern and western narrow sides; a narrow, salient-like wing in the middle of the southern longitudinal side corresponds to a polygonal stair tower on the north side. The building is three-storied. The upper floor of the main building is half-timbered, the later added wings are made of rubble masonry with interlocking corner quoins and wavy gables. The windows on the wings have chamfered stone frames, on the central building wooden frames. On the wings facing the inside, there are round-arched entrances; the frame is profiled, with the year 1579 at the apex. The stair tower shows half-timbering on the upper floor and has a dome roof. In the basement, an entrance with a straight lintel, the frame profiled. In the lintel, the coat of arms of the Mairhofen family with the year 1693 is embedded; this was apparently inserted later, as traces of an older Kottwitz coat of arms are still visible. In the half-timbering of the upper floor, there is the carved coat of arms of the Kottwitz family and the year 1594.

The central building dates from an older, late Gothic period. The residential building originally consisted only of an undivided, three-story house, which, according to stylistic clues, belongs to the late Gothic period, and which was extended in 1579 by the addition of wings. The side wings, the chapel extension, and the stair tower were added in 1579 and 1589 respectively in Renaissance style. The simple farm buildings, a forester's house and an administrator's house, were newly built in 1755. They form a quadrangle around an inner courtyard.

On all floors, there is a central hall accessible from the stair tower. On the second floor, the house chapel is located facing south. The moated castle can only be viewed from the outside.