Pfaffendorf Castle

Pfaffendorf Castle is a simple, three-winged Baroque building in the center of Pfaffendorf, a district of Maroldsweisach in the Haßberge district of Lower Franconia. Since 1954, the former noble residence has housed a boarding school run by the Salesians of Don Bosco.

The economic decline of the von Stein zu Altenstein family forced them to abandon their nearby ancestral castle, Altenstein, at the beginning of the 18th century. As a new residence, the Steins had the small castle building in Pfaffendorf erected starting in 1703. The new building replaced an older seat from the first half of the 16th century. The castle remained in family possession until 1875 and, after the extinction of the German line of the Steins, passed to Count Edmund von Linden and later to the Barons von Grunelius. Subsequently, the English Ladies acquired the property. After the Second World War, the Salesians established a school and boarding school (Pfaffendorf Youth Welfare Center) here, which specifically dedicates itself to supporting children and young people with learning disabilities and "difficult" educational needs.