Sternberg Castle

Sternberg Castle in the municipality of Sulzdorf an der Lederhecke is a Baroque four-wing complex around a central courtyard, its corners marked by towers with onion domes. Adjacent to the castle is the castle chapel, whose portal faces north.

In the 12th century, the Hennebergs received the area around Sternberg as a fief from the Diocese of Eichstätt. In 1199, Count Heinrich von Henneberg built a castle on the site of the present castle. After the extinction of the Henneberg-Sternberg line, the castle was sold to the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg in 1354, which granted several fiefs, leading to the creation of a Ganerbenburg (a castle owned jointly by several families). However, at the beginning of the 16th century, the Truchsess von Wetzhausen acquired all these Ganerben shares.

During the Peasants' War of 1525 and the Thirty Years' War, the castle suffered considerable damage.

Between 1667 and 1669, the current Baroque complex was built under Wolff Dietrich Truchsess von Wetzhausen, which is probably one of the largest Franconian country castles. The castle church was erected in 1673, as evidenced by a dating on the coat of arms stone there.

After Wolff Dietrich remained without male descendants, he sold the castle in 1695 to his liege lord, the Würzburg Prince-Bishop Johann Gottfried von Guttenberg.

The castle remained in the possession of the Barons zu Guttenberg until 1838. After this time, it served Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as a residence for several years. In 1846, the property was finally bought by the then Bavarian King Ludwig I. Allegedly, his mistress Lola Montez found refuge in Sternberg Castle during her flight in 1848.

After the king's abdication in 1848, the complex changed owners several times. In 1884, the Kitzingen wine merchant Oskar von Deuster acquired the castle, which was in a ruinous state, restored it, and laid out a park.

In September 1930, the then Reich President Paul von Hindenburg stayed at the castle to observe the autumn maneuvers of the Reichswehr taking place in the Grabfeld region.

In 1933, the Swiss F. L. A. Freytag bought the castle. He is the founder of the religious community "Menschenfreundliches Werk" (Humanitarian Work), which is still the owner today, after the castle served as an SA training camp during World War II and later as a refugee camp, and was re-transferred at the end of the 1940s.