Castle ruins Liebenstein
Liebenstein Castle is located on two old long-distance routes on a topographically striking granite cone above the Waldnaab valley.
The castle is built in the early 12th century. In documents from 1125 and 1143 the family of Liebensteiner (the brothers "Udalricus and Piligrimus de Egere") is mentioned for the first time. The Liebensteiner belonged to one of the most powerful and richest ministerial families of the Egerland. When they died out in 1292 without male descendants, the castle came into the possession of the Waldsassen monastery in 1298. It was heavily fortified and expanded around 1300 by Abbot Theodoric. In 1340 Abbot Franz erected a ring wall as a further fortification measure, which surrounded the entire castle complex.
Liebenstein Castle had its own beneficiary. In the course of the excavations, the small castle chapel dedicated to St. Catherine was located in the very south-east of the ruins. The altar block is still preserved in the choir room. The apse was added to the wall of the hall later. The main room, with its loophole-like openings, must therefore have had a different function before it was converted into a chapel.
A chapel was expensive to build and maintain. According to the reconstruction proposal, the chapel is equipped with a few elaborate columns and a wooden gallery. The gallery must have been accessible to the noble residents of the castle from the Palas. Here, as was customary in the medieval society of estates, they could attend mass separately from the other believers.
In 1643 the castle was given up in favor of a castle in the valley (former inn) and fell into ruins. In 1814 it was almost completely demolished - a royal decree to protect the ruins came too late. The stone material is used for the reconstruction of Tirschenreuth after the great city fire (July 30, 1814). The granite cone of the castle hill was mined by several quarries from 1937 to the 1950s. In 2006, when the excavations and repair work began, only a few remains of the wall were left.
After intensive excavations, restoration and reconstruction measures, it now presents itself to the visitor in a comprehensively restored condition. The work, supported by numerous sponsors, was carried out between 2006-2018 by the Liebenstein Citizens' Association. They were professionally looked after by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.