Top 14 Castles around Heinrichsthaler Forst

The castle is privately owned

Wiesen Castle was built in 1597 by Wolfgang von Dalberg, Elector of Mainz. Since the castle is privately owned, it is unfortunately not open to the public.

Beautiful complex in the forest behind the swimming pool.

Wiesen Castle At first glance, Wiesen's traffic situation seems unfavorable, but two state roads cross here. In the late Middle Ages, around 1400, Wiesen was even at the junction of two important supra-regional traffic routes, on Birkenhainer Strasse and Eselsweg. In Wiesen, on the site of the current castle, there was a castle belonging to the Counts of Rieneck, who controlled both of these high-altitude traffic routes from here. The forests and valleys around Wiesen were then dominated by glass production and the glass trade. The current building of the castle was probably built next to the church in the late 16th century. The former Mainz castle and its outbuildings, together with the church, form a slightly elevated, picturesque group of buildings on the edge of the actual village center. The importance of the castle lies in its excellent location in the townscape and its special significance for local history as a bearer of tradition from the old story of the village's founding. During excavations in the castle, Gothic stove tiles were also discovered. They are called Tannenberg type tiles after Tannenberg Castle on the Bergstrasse. Tiles of this type were manufactured in Dieburg from the middle of the 14th century and traded along the Main as far as Holland. The fragments suggest that the lord of the castle in Wiesen - formerly from Rieneck - owned a stove around 1400, the equipment of which reveals a high standard of living. However, the good piece was not only intended to serve as optimal room heating, but above all to impress guests with the proud display of wealth. Source: Information board at the site

Weiberhof Castle, which is located in the Sailauf district of Weiberhof and today houses the "Kurfürstliche Schlosshotel Weyberhöfe", dates back to the first of four hunting lodges that were built in the Spessart by the electors of Mainz. It is located at the starting and finishing point of several historical Spessart crossings, namely on the Lohrer Straße or Mainzer Straße, which was also called the Kurfürstenweg and reached the Spessart heights via Steiger, on the Römerweg over the Untersailaufer Höhe and the Engländer in the direction of Orb and on the route via Keilberg, the Posthalterkreuz and Rohrbrunn to Esselbach and Lengfurt. Werner von Eppstein built this hunting lodge "castrum vivarum" in 1265, where he died in 1284. It was probably a stone tower with outbuildings and a zoo, as the name vivarum suggests. It was destroyed in the Margraviate War of 1552 and the hunting lodge was rebuilt in 1557 under Elector Daniel Brendel of Homburg. Over the centuries, the “vivarum” became “vivar”, “wiber”, “weiber” and later also “weyber”. In 1681, Michael Sickenberger from Großkrotzenburg settled in the Weyber estate as a tenant and later farmer. He ran a sheep farm there and became “hereditary owner of the Weiberhof”; his sons and their descendants also held this office until the 19th century. On Paul Pfinzing’s Spessart map from 1562/1594, Weiber is shown with a house. Coats of arms carved in stone remind us that the property was the seat of the Centgraf of the “Cent vorm Spessart”. Source: Wikipedia

It is definitely in the higher price range. Whether it is worth it is something everyone has to decide for themselves.

Somewhat unexpectedly, I found myself standing in front of the “mini castle”. It is a complete castle, with everything you would expect from a castle.

The old boundary stones here at the “sea of government of the past and present” are particularly worth a look