Tambach Castle

Both on the street side and the park side, the more than 100-meter-long front of the transverse wing is horizontally structured by the window rows of three floors and vertically by the central risalit, which is divided into five axes by six pilasters. A triangular gable with relief filling, raised on cornice arches, is placed on the three central axes of the risalit. The ridge of the roof above it bears a slender roof turret with an onion dome and a lantern-like top with a golden cross. Until 1806, the castle courtyard was adorned with two fountains with figures by the Bamberg sculptor Michael Trautmann. After moving into the castle, the Ortenburgs had both removed and replaced them with an oval water basin with a fountain. The fountain with the figure group of Jesus and the Samaritan woman now adorns the picturesque center of Neundorf's main square, while the other, of which only the obelisk remained, went to Hattersdorf and was re-erected there in the middle of the village.

Of the old interior furnishings of the castle, only some stucco ceilings and faience stoves have been preserved. One of them, which looks like a cupboard, turns out on closer inspection to be a ceramic stove that can be heated from the adjacent room. Most of the mostly baroque and rococo inventory was brought by the Counts of Ortenburg from their abandoned ancestral castle near Passau. In addition to some valuable furniture, there are remarkable pieces of old craftsmanship and Old Meissen porcelain, including some Kaendler figures, and a multi-figured series of centerpieces made of Sèvres porcelain, a gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to the Ortenburgs.

Tambach Castle owes the construction of its castle church, built between 1777 and 1786, to Abbot Johann Nepomuk Pitius of Langheim Monastery. Its pure Louis XVI style makes it a great rarity. The church, which extends through two floors of the central tract, is not recognizable as such from the outside and is located opposite the staircase on the eastern side of the main entrance. Its creator is Lorenz Fink from Würzburg, barely 30 years old at the time. Abbot Pitius consecrated the house of God in 1786 against the will of the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, fell into disgrace, and was removed from office in 1788 for extravagance.

The inherently rectangular church space gains the impression of a central room with an ambulatory on the ground floor and a gallery above it, thanks to an oval arrangement of pillars. The white and gold stucco, which, typical of the Louis XVI style, seems to float on the surfaces, is a work by Heinrich Seelmann. The light green fillings create a cheerful, bright space. Until 1806, the church space was adorned with some sculptures by the sculptor Trautmann; the main altar bore a figure group of the Assumption of Mary and two side altars had figures of Saints Bernard and John Nepomuk and the Annunciation group with an adoring angel.

The first count residing in Tambach, Josef Carl zu Ortenburg, had the house of God adapted to the Protestant rite in 1806. A pulpit altar was inserted in place of the main altar, and Trautmann's saint figures and the side altars were removed. Only the relief medallions held by stucco putti, depicting scenes from the life of Mary, remained in the castle church. The Assumption of Mary from the main altar is now in the church of Neundorf, a district also belonging to Weitramsdorf, while the side altars went to Autenhausen and Witzmannsberg.

In 1954, the Ortenburg family returned to the Catholic faith. The church was excellently renovated from 1956 to 1965 and adapted back to its original rite. The pulpit was replaced by a Madonna sculpture. This depiction of the Blessed Virgin with the child on her lap and a grape in her hand, from the mid-18th century, comes from Ticino and, with its Renaissance-like style, is reminiscent of Italian models.

In 1970, the then lord of the castle, Alram Graf zu Ortenburg (1925–2007), established a 50-hectare wildlife park in the English landscape garden created in the 19th century. Its varied arrangement of spacious enclosures with European red and fallow deer, fishing opportunities, children's playgrounds, riding facilities, and a nature trail has since attracted visitors from the wider area, especially during the autumn deer rut. The Bavarian Hunting Falconry is located in the wildlife park.

Opposite the castle, the extensive grounds of the Coburg Golf Club were established in 1995, of which Alram Graf von Ortenburg was a founding member. The facility, initially with 9 holes, was expanded to 18 holes in 1997.

The castle is still partly inhabited by the Ortenburg family, Heinrich Graf zu Ortenburg and his wife, and is generally not accessible to the public. It also houses the noble library of the Counts of Ortenburg, which has been largely decimated worldwide by recent sales, from which the Berlin State Library acquired some Middle High German manuscripts through the antiquarian Jörn Günther. The castle also houses the Hunting and Fishing Museum, a branch museum of the German Hunting and Fishing Museum in Munich.

As part of the Tambach Summer, a series of important concerts takes place in the castle courtyard. Every second Sunday in September, on Open Monument Day, some rooms of the castle and the castle church can be visited. On the third Advent weekend of each year, a traditional Christmas market takes place in the castle courtyard, where some of the private rooms are open to visitors. Exhibitions and concerts during the Christmas season round off the market events.