Tetzel Castle

The "New Castle" was built between 1590 and 1595 by Jobst Friedrich Tetzel approximately 50 meters southwest of the old manor house of the Erlbeck family on the grounds of the Old Castle Site. The architectural planning and supervision of the castle were most likely carried out by the Nuremberg city architect Wolf Jakob Stromer, who was a friend of Tetzel.

The castle still appears in a nearly unaltered state today. A three-story sandstone building is adjoined at a right angle to the northwest by another three-story wing; both are equipped with gabled roofs and dormer windows. In the re-entrant angle, an octagonal stair tower with a dome helmet and spiral staircase provides access from the inner courtyard to the upper floors. On the ground floor, there is a large hall – later divided, but re-established during the most recent renovations – and on the second upper floor, a representative hall. In most rooms, the original plank and beam ceilings are still preserved today. Two sides of the courtyard are enclosed by a wall with a gabled roof. Above the round arch portal, a stone is affixed with the coats of arms of Jobst Friedrich Tetzel and his two wives from the Groland and Schlüsselfelder families, as well as the year 1590. The castle complex was completed by his widow Anna through the construction of the Vogt's house and the outbuildings – stables, washhouse, and shed; she also had the entire castle complex surrounded by a wall, which is still preserved today. Another enclosure with four diagonally placed corner towers was planned by her around the castle but was not executed.

In 1612, the castle came into the possession of the Jobst-Friedrich-Tetzel Foundation, founded by the builder, to which it still belongs today. Excluding Catholics and the line of his brother Karl, whom he detested, Jobst Friedrich arranged for the administration of the foundation by the oldest male members of the Tetzel and Schlüsselfelder families. The administrators had the right to reside in and use Kirchensittenbach Castle, but they were prohibited from selling foundation assets. After the extinction of the "founding families," the Volckamer, Groland, Rummel, and Stockamer families were to succeed, after which lots would decide.

The administration of the foundation was initially taken over by Tetzel's widow Anna, née Schlüsselfelder, and after her death in 1640, by her nephew Willibald Schlüsselfelder. In 1709, his family also died out. They were therefore followed by the Volckamer family, and from 1729 (the Groland, Rummel, and Stockamer families had also died out by then), alternately first with the Pfinzing family (extinct 1764), and from 1780 with the Behaim family. After the extinction of the Behaim family (1942), the von Stromer family succeeded.

The financially well-endowed foundation was able to purchase the possessions of Karl Tetzel's line in Kirchensittenbach for 20,000 guilders in 1736/37 after its extinction, thus uniting the estates in its hands after 158 years of division. Already in 1698, the Vogt's house, which had only been built around 1620, was demolished and replaced by a new building. In 1701, plans were made to surround the castle with a water-filled moat.

In 1777, extensive repairs were carried out after load-bearing components had rotted and the upper room could no longer be used. From 1822 to 1825, the foundation administrator von Volckamer spent over 16,000 guilders on the restoration and modernization of the castle; the large hall on the second upper floor (later called Tetzel Hall, then Knight's Hall) was redecorated and provided with stucco ceilings. A far-reaching modernization of the first upper floor in the 1890s was followed by a comprehensive renovation of the entire castle, which continued until 2006, under administrator Dr. Volker von Volckamer.