Tucher Castle Maiach

The Maiach manor is closely linked to the history of the Imperial Forest. As a so-called "Zeidelmuttergut" (beekeeping estate), it is one of the original settlements in the forest. It is presumed that royal foresters' servants resided on these imperial fiefs early on. In the late Middle Ages, the "Zeidelmütter" gradually came into the possession of Nuremberg families. Although Emperor Charles IV had prohibited the construction of new fortified houses in the Imperial Forest in the 14th century, the emergence of further manors likely became apparent at the latest after the acquisition of the two imperial fief forests in 1396 and 1427 by the Imperial City of Nuremberg.

The Maiach estate likely originated from a manorial court, which was exchanged by the Teutonic Order House in Nuremberg to the Elisabeth Hospital. Its oldest urbarium from 1394/97 mentions grain rents "from the half farm on the court at the rear Maiach." In 1416, this property is said to have come into the possession of Hilpolt Kress (died 1427); he "spent much of his life on his country estate Maiach" and bequeathed it to his brother Conrad. His daughter Klara (died 1463) brought it to her husband Berthold Pfinzing, which is confirmed by an entry in the Nuremberg Council Book of 1482. From Pfinzing, the estate fell in the late 15th century to Hans Gärtner am Markt, so named because he resided in a property on Nuremberg's main market. In his time, the "estate and beekeeping property in Mayach," protected by a moat, is first attested when Gärtner sold it on February 21, 1495, to Hans IX. Tucher, known in Nuremberg as "long Hans." In 1499, Hans Tucher, who had already sent his bride Cordula von Thill's chamber wagon to Maiach in 1497, carried out an extensive renovation of the manor house, which was then referred to as a moated house.

In connection with documented locksmith work in 1504, it was attested that the estate already had a second manor house at that time. The castle also included defensive structures such as a gatehouse and a drawbridge, as well as outbuildings and a chapel. During the Landshut War of Succession in 1504, the estate was more heavily fortified and occupied by imperial city mercenaries. Just the year before, Hans Tucher, a very successful entrepreneur, had been ambushed by the robber Hans Baum during a stay in Maiach and abducted to the Rhön. Only after a ransom payment of 3,000 guilders was "long Hans" released after 23 weeks.

In 1511, Hans Tucher, who had remained without male heirs, bequeathed his properties to a "Vorschickung," as the foundations for the preservation of family estates in Nuremberg were called. The eldest from his brother's line was to administer the foundation. In the Second Margrave War, the Tucher family had to accept on May 15, 1552, that the margravial troops also burned down their Maiach manor. Presumably under Adam Tucher, who married Anna Tetzel in 1556, only one of the two destroyed manor houses was likely repaired.

Adam was succeeded by Jobst Tucher, who died in 1629 without male heirs and did not have to witness the second downfall of the estate. Maiach was also among the places that were ravaged and set on fire by marauding imperial soldiers in 1632. The Tucher Castle and all peasant properties were "burned to the ground and ruined." After the Thirty Years' War, only the outbuildings were restored by the new administrators from the so-called oldest branch of the older line of the Tucher family; the manor house, renewed around 1560 and still a typical moated house, remained in ruins. As inventories show, Maiach furniture, which had been removed before 1632, was still stored in the Tucher Castle in Nuremberg's Hirschelgasse in 1689.

For occasional stays of the gentry and to accommodate the Vogt, the so-called "large house," also known as the "front castle," was built in 1681/82 immediately west of the ruin by the master mason Conrad Steinmüller from Reichelsdorf. While the Vogt lived on the ground floor, the Tucher family had an apartment on the upper floor with a large living room, a small room, a kitchen, and several chambers. Only under Paul XII. Tucher, who had risen as an officer to Field Marshal Lieutenant of the Franconian Circle Troops and who also sat on the Inner Council of the Imperial City, was the old moated house renewed some time before 1700, not in 1707, as was occasionally reported. On the retaining walls and foundations of the rectangular castle site, a much smaller summer house was now built, which was subsequently referred to as the "Weiherschlösslein" (small moated castle) or "rear castle." It housed a hall, a living room, a small chapel, and five chambers. In 1697, the red and white rooms were renovated here. In a final construction measure in 1707/08 – as deliveries of hewn stone show – a more representative expansion seems to have been completed. Around 1720 and 1735, further renovations, including stucco work, took place under Hans Paul Tucher, without it becoming clear which of these works took place in the "front" and which in the "rear castle."

After the death of Jakob Gottlieb Friedrich Freiherr von Tucher in 1832, the Maiach castle estate was sold to the highest bidder. Only after several auction dates did bidders with an acceptable offer, the Schwabach brothers Johann Konrad and Georg Andreas Nerreter, appear in 1834. However, the Nerreter brothers were only interested in a speculative fragmentation of the estate and profitably passed on the properties to eight interested parties. The two manor houses, the front and the rear castle, were acquired by the former Vogt of the Tuchers, Johann Völkel, to open an inn here. The inn developed into a popular Nuremberg excursion destination in the 19th century, which was eventually equipped with a large beer garden, a bowling alley, and a music pavilion.

The front castle was converted for the restaurant in 1891, but a new inn with a hall building was built south of it in 1898/99. Subsequently, the restaurant operation in the front manor house ended, which was thereafter only used as a rental house. The rear manor house was very severely damaged by incendiary bombs in 1944 and repaired in a simplified form around 1956. It is a small, single-story building grouped on four sides around a small inner courtyard (atrium).

The so-called large house or front castle is a gable-roofed building about 16 meters long and over 12 meters wide. While the ground floor has sandstone ashlar enclosures, the upper floor with the formerly manorial apartment is a half-timbered construction. A massive, approximately 25-meter-long stable building was attached to its rear. The building has been in a neglected state since the late 20th century and its existence is endangered.