Abbach Castle

In 972, the later Emperor Henry II, who gifted Abbach to the newly founded Diocese of Bamberg in 1007, is said to have been born in the castle. In 1119, Abbach passed to Prüfening Abbey, whose abbot is then said to have razed the castle. Through the mediation of the emperor, the ruined castle came to Duke Ludwig the Kelheimer in 1196, who soon after began rebuilding the castle, which is mentioned as completed in 1224 ("pro edificatione castri nostri in Abbach in fundo ecclesie ipsorum eis invitis constructi"). Until 1803, it housed a Pflegamt (administrative office). In 1297, enraged citizens of Regensburg burned down the town and the castle. In 1564, the castle's surrounding walls were described as dilapidated. With the abandonment of the Pflegamt, which had meanwhile been newly built outside the castle, in 1803, demolition work began on the castle buildings, which by 1832 had removed all buildings except for the keep. Only in the early 1980s was the tower, now accessible via a steel staircase over the old high entrance, renovated.