Thiergarten Castle

The castle's origins date back to the time of the Margraves of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, who initially used the area as a hunting ground. Margrave Christian Ernst had a first, smaller hunting lodge built here. His successor, Margrave Georg Wilhelm, commissioned Johann David Räntz to construct a more solid new building, which is preserved to this day. Subsequent margraves also cultivated hunting as a social event, although Margrave Friedrich later had the more modern hunting lodge Kaiserhammer built. A special attraction was the bear hunt, for which bears were specifically acquired. In the early 19th century, Thiergarten Castle lost its original function after the left wing was demolished, and thereafter served agricultural purposes.