The Catholic parish church of St. Bartholomew, a small village church in the upper Wiesenttal, has a varied history. Like other churches in the Franconian Switzerland, it reflects the often sorrowful history of the region. Art historically, the church offers many interesting things.
At first glance, the proximity of the church to the castle, the former castle, and the clear distance to the residential buildings. A very close connection to the rule must therefore have been given. It is obvious that the building was built on the site of the former castle chapel.
The castle Freienfels was built in the year 1283, the owners were of the race of Aufseß. From today's plant can be seen that it must have been a stately building: 1510 had the castle two ditches and several berms. In 1525 the nobility was destroyed in the Peasants' War.
During the Thirty Years' War in 1628 Bamberg troops occupied Freienfels, possession of Protestant edifices. Finally, in 1681, the reign of Freienfels and his peasant subjects came to the Catholic line of those of Aufseß. The new village potentates turned the castle into a castle and also renewed the church, which became Protestant before becoming Catholic again: cuius regio - eius religio. The subject had to accept the denomination of the Lord. At that time in Freienfels it did not go off without resistance, even in the year 1720 three Kapuzinermönche were used for the conversion of the one and a half centuries long Protestant inhabitants.