page_title: Rauheneck Castle (Ebern)
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Rauheneck Castle (Ebern) / Description
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Burg Rauheneck (Raueneck) bei Ebern (Unterfranken). Kapelle (links) und Unterburg mit der Giebelwand der ehemaligen Scheune.
context_page_description: Rauheneck Castle is a ruined administrative castle of the Bishopric of Würzburg in the Haßberge in the county of Haßberge, Lower Franconia, Bavaria. The site, which was badly in need of repair, was closed until 2006 due to the danger of collapse but has been accessible again since the start of, as yet unfinished, emergency repair work.
context_section_description: Parts of the impressive Hussite period zwinger systems (walled fighting enclosures) have survived with their two round towers and a bretèche (Schießerker), as well as the ruins of the palas, with its great hall, the late Gothic chapel and two basement Vaults.
  Today the grounds are entered on the east side over a stone arch bridge dating to the 16th/17th century. The bridge was needed when the main entrance had been moved next to the palas and the neck ditch in front of the zwinger system had to be crossed. A sealed earlier gate, situated to its right on the ground floor of the palas, has survived. The original main gate could have been located in the gap in the wall in front of the chapel on the other side of the castle (see Zeune's artist's impression).
  During the construction of the bridge, one of the two bretèches of the zwinger was largely dismantled. The surviving bretèche is in a critically dangerous condition, its left part having collapsed decades ago.
  To the right rise the ruins of palas (13th to 16th century) which have been secured by emergency work. The huge Renaissance window of the upper floor poses serious historic preservation problems. One of the windows was underpinned by a steel frame. Of interesting is a small fireplace in the tiny room next to the bridge. It may well have been the gatekeeper's room. Of the other internal buildings only remains of walls and vaults have survived.
  Whether the castle has possessed a bergfried cannot be ascertained. A possible site for such a tower is considered by some castle researchers castle to be a pile of rubble west of the palas. A highly stylized illustration on a 1665 map shows a tower with a gable roof next to the chapel. This illustration is considered as evidence of the existence of a bergfried in the web project "Castles in Bavaria" (Burgen in Bayern) by the House of Bavarian History. However, this schematic illustration is certainly no indication of the actual existence of such a structure. Until a specialized archaeological investigation of the surmised tower location has been carried out all such suggestions must remain speculative. Nevertheless, when Dietz Marschalk took office in 1378, he had to pay the watchman and the gatekeeper.
  Of note are the ruins of the old late Gothic chapel, which projects bastion-like into the neck ditch. There are still cleaning residues from the original consecration crosses. However, the chapel has been badly affected by the increasing vandalism of the ruins. In early 2005, part of the beautiful external cornice (Kaffgesims) was thrown into the ditch. 
  Some structural damage resulted from a failed attempt by a youth group to renovate the top of the wall in the late 20th century. Around 1980, a human skeleton was unearthed in the chapel during an illegal excavation, suggesting that a tomb or crypt lay under the chapel.
  Of the zwinger system facing the valley, there are still two round towers, a long section of the zwinger wall to the left of the chapel and, adjoining it, a  tower-like projection identified as a cistern.
  Below the main bailey was a large outer bailey. Here, there is still the gable wall of a large barn-like building. In 2008, this part of the castle was also made safe. In the vicinity are other wall remains, artificial modifications to the rock and a stone fountain trough. Further uphill is the entrance to a spacious, artificially enlarged cave, which was apparently used as a cellar.
  Northeast of the castle a mighty boulder shows clear traces of human workmanship. On the top, a rectangular cavity has been carved, possibly another cistern. Nearby, a memorial stone commemorating the unsolved murder of a berry-picker in the early 20th century. The quarry that can be made out behind it probably dates to the Middle Ages, used to produce building stone for the construction of the castle.
  The whole castle was built of local sandstone. Numerous beautiful architectural elements lie neglected and overgrown with moss on the forest floor.
  The buildings are in severe danger of collapse, In the summer of 2006, however, esse
caption: Chapel and lower ward
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