Weißenstein Castle

Schloss Weißenstein is a palatial residence in Pommersfelden, Bavaria, southern Germany. It was designed for Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg and Archbishop of Mainz, to designs by Johann Dientzenhofer and Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt. The Marstall (luxury stable) had been designed by Maximilian von Welsch. Weißenstein, built as a summer residence, remains in the Schönborn family.

The castle was built between 1711 and 1718 from local sandstone materials.

The edifice is located in a rural area in southern Germany, which does not have industrial air pollution. During a restoration in 1977, the mortar joints were repaired using lime-cement-mortars, and large areas of the facade were then consolidated and treated hydrophobically using silicone products. In November 1998, some treated and untreated mortars were sampled by three scientific partners of the University of Hamburg, to compare the microbial colonisation and to enrich and isolate microorganisms from the silicone treated material.

The palace contains the largest private Baroque art collection in Germany, containing over 600 pictures. Baroque and Renaissance artists represented include Peter Paul Rubens, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, Rembrandt and Anthony van Dyck.