Schwarzenfels Castle
Castles - Palaces - Manor Houses
Produced by : 
© 2025
Produced by : © 2025
From a distance, the Schwarzenfels castle and palace complex on the edge of the Spessart impresses. It was initially planned as a defensive stronghold. Later, however, it was used as an official and widow's residence, as well as the residence of the lords of Hanau. This impressive cultural monument is a popular excursion destination all year round, and we take the opportunity to visit the Christmas market, whose reputation reached us months before the event.
On the Hopfenberg, high above the Sinntal in the Main-Kinzig district, 700 years of eventful history can be found. Over the course of time, Schwarzenfels Castle, which probably owes its name to the black rock beneath it, has been used for a variety of purposes: as a defensive post, court, office, widow's seat and residence.
It was repeatedly converted and expanded to accommodate new functions. This can be seen from afar. The eye is caught by the two-part structure, consisting of the ruins of the core castle with a mighty medieval keep and a representative Renaissance-style building. It offers visitors magnificent distant views of the nearby Rhön and the northern Spessart.
It is assumed that the progenitor of the lords and counts of Hanau, Reinhard I (around 1225-1281), built Schwarzenfels Castle, which was first mentioned in a document in 1280. He was the first representative of King Rudolf I of Habsburg (1218-1291) in the Wetterau, entrusted with the duties of a landvogt (bailiff).
Reinhard, who expanded his power base between the ecclesiastical territories of Fulda and Würzburg, secured his new possessions, which were far from the core territory of the House of Hanau, with strategic bases. Schwarzenfels Castle was one such place, occupied by officials, but not a seat of power. The area around the castle, given to the Hanau lords as an imperial fief in 1333, offered good income opportunities with its abundance of forests and game, agriculture and livestock farming, and by collecting road and bridge tolls, as well as tithes.
Major changes to the facility took place when the widow of Count Philipp III of Hanau-Münzenberg, Helene of Pfalz-Simmern (1532-1579), moved into the castle. She had to leave the castles in Hanau and Steinau and adapted the new domicile to her requirements with renovations. Among other things, she had a bathroom installed and a kitchen wing built. Her husband had previously had a large stables built in the outer bailey.
Schwarzenfels Castle was expanded into a residence under Albrecht of Hanau-Münzenberg (1579-1635). A magnificent portal with a fountain in front of it has been preserved as the entrance to the castle from this formative period. He was forced to flee at the onset of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) and died in Strasbourg. The Hanau-Münzenberg line also ended a little later.
What remained was a ruinous complex, the inner ward of which was abandoned and in 1643 pledged to the landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. In 1982, the subsequent owners temporarily housed a district court and various administrative offices in the modern buildings.
In 1983, the Schwarzenfels was reopened to the public as a place of interest. From 2014 to 2018, an extensive restoration was carried out. A lapidarium was set up and a steel and glass platform was added to the keep, which juts out over the masonry and is a special attraction as the “Schwarzenfels Skywalk”.
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