Reichenberg Castle (Reichelsheim)

Reichenberg Castle is located in Reichelsheim in the Odenwald, 100 m above the town and 328 m above sea level.

According to one source, the first castle is said to have been built by the Lords of Crumpach around 1150. In any case, the area around Reichelsheim passed to the Schenken zu Erbach shortly after 1200. The Erbach Schenk Johann I (died 1296) is said to have built the castle between the middle and end of the 13th century, according to another source. On December 8, 1307, Reichenberg Castle was first mentioned in a document as Richenburg or Rychenburg.

In the late 14th century, extensions were made to the north (outer bailey) and east, and the Gothic St. Michael's Chapel was built as part of the outer defensive wall. Its builder was the pious Schenk Eberhard X and his wife Marie von Bickenbach, whose son Dietrich even became Archbishop of Mainz and Elector in 1434.

At the beginning of the 16th century, the old keep was demolished and the palas was extended as the Krummer Bau. A draw well in the inner courtyard bears the coats of arms of Erbach and Palatinate as well as the years 1557 and 1567. Since 1531, the castle belonged to the later Imperial Count Schenk Eberhard XIII, who had it rebuilt in Renaissance style. The castle survived an attack on Sunday, June 23, 1622, during the Thirty Years' War. Until 1731, the castle was a residential seat. At that time, Count Georg Wilhelm moved to Erbach. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Amtshaus (administrative building) was the seat of a boys' reformatory.