Burg Abenberg

High above the Franconian town that shares its name, Burg Abenberg was rebuilt in stone in the 1130s by Count Rapoto, replacing the timber seat of an eleventh-century comital family. The prince-bishops of Eichstätt held it from 1296 and ran their district administration from within its walls. Decay followed secularisation, and demolition was averted only in 1875, when the art dealer K. J. Zwerschina bought the ruin; a regional partnership restored the complex from 1986. The castle now houses museums of Franconian history and of lace-making, together with a hotel and restaurant, and its courtyard becomes a concert space in summer, where Orff's Carmina Burana has been heard.