Plassenburg

Above the roofs of Kulmbach stands one of the largest Renaissance castles in Germany. First recorded in the twelfth century, the Plassenburg passed to the Hohenzollerns in 1340 and served as their seat until 1604; after its destruction in the Second Margravian War of 1554 it was rebuilt by Caspar Vischer as fortress and palace at once. Prussia bought it in 1792, Bavaria took it in 1810, and for much of the nineteenth century it did duty as a prison and a military hospital. It now holds museums — among them the German Tin Figure Museum, with more than three hundred thousand figures — while its halls and courtyards are given over to concerts and other cultural occasions, so that the acoustics of a garrison castle serve music instead.