"Castle on water" Schloß Mespelbrunn by Polly74

Surrounded by green, wooded hills and crystal clear water, Mespelbrunn is one of the loveliest castles in northern Bavaria. Located in a small, romantic valley, it was not destroyed in the thirty Years War nor later.
It is so well hidden it was almost impossibly to find. For that reason, Mespelbrunn is one of the few castles in Germany that has retained its original form and furniture.
The oldest part of the castle is the mighty tower. Its origin goes back to the thirteenth century. In that time it had to protect the road running through the valley, a by-road of the Wuerzburg highway, which already in the middle-ages was the most important road through the Spessard.
The main part of the tower was built by the knight Hamann Echter in the early fifteenth century (1419-1432). It now contains the family-archives and the library. The oldest document you find in it is of the thirteenth century.

The other part of the castle was erected by the knight Peter Echter. It was to replace a smaller building which stood between the tower and the chapel. The northern and eastern aisles of the castle are supported by picturesque columns. Those on the north side are of wonderful stone-cutting, decorated with rosettes, heads of angels and masks, very typical emblems of the Renaissance style. This part of the castle is entirely built in German Renaissance style.

• Pros:Marvellous valley