Jaap van 't Veen's photos with the keyword: Fränkische Schweiz

Rabenstein Castle ( Burg Rabenstein ) lies in the heart of Franconian Switzerland, nestled on a rock high above the valley of the river Ailsbach. It is situated along the so called (famous) “Castle Road’, which connects more than 90 castles in Germany. The castle was first mentioned in the year of 1188. The castle owners changed many times over the centuries and the original building was reconstructed, extended and redesigned. The castle came - after 300 years - again into the ownership of the Rabensteins in 1557. Daniel von Rabenstein let it be redesigned into a three-winged Renaissance complex, which was destroyed in the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648). After he lineage died out in 1742 the castle was bought by the counts von Schönborn. On the occasion of a visit of the Bavarian King Ludwig I and his wife the half ruined complex was restructured into a baroque castle in 1830. The estate remained in the possession of the counts von Schönborn until 1975. In 2004 the property was bought by a commercial company and nowadays it houses a 22-room hotel. The castle is also used for events, conferences and weddings. Parts of the castle can be visited by a guided tour.

Seehof Palace ( Schloss Seehof ) was built from 1686 as a summer residence for the Bamberg Prince-Bishops. The palace is often Marquardsburg after its founder called Marquard Sebastian von Schenk von Stauffenberg. This Prince-Bishop loved the rural area around Memmelsdorf , about 5 km’s from Bamberg. He ordered the Franconian builder Antonio Petrini to replace a local estate with a baroque palace. Lothar Franz von Schönborn, elected Prince-Bishop of Bamberg in 1693, designated an area of 21 ha of land with adjacent lakes and forests to be made into gardens. The palace hill was reshaped into precise terraces and the gardens divided into six large sections. During the 18th century, the palace garden was one of the most famous Rococo gardens in Germany After secularization - early 19th century - it fell into disrepair and by the end of the 20th century extensive renovation work was necessary. Among the features reflecting the splendour of the former garden are the restored cascade with its waterworks and some of the original sandstone sculpture. Nowadays most of the building is occupied by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection. But nine restored rooms of the Prince-Bishop’s apartment are open to the public; the spacious gardens and fountains can be visited free of charge.

It is said that already in 1071 a chapel have stood on the place of the present basilica. In 1240 the chapel was converted into a spacious church dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The earliest official mention of a church in Gößweinstein however can be found in 1308 in the will of Gottfried von Schlüsselberg. The Schlüsselberg family is considered to be the founder of the first church, which became a pilgrimage church. The medieval church – although expanded several times - was soon unable to cope with the many pilgrims. A new and much bigger church was built (1730 – 1739) during the reign of Prince-Bishop Friedrich Carl von Schönborn of Bamberg by the famous architect and builder Balthasar Neumann. He designed the floor plan, a Latin cross, and created what has come to be considered a baroque masterpiece. The magnificent art depicting biblical stories on the walls and ceiling inside the church was not complete until 1768 and it is quite breathtaking. There are also several highly decorated altars around the church. The basilica is one of the most important pilgrimage churches in Germany. Especially in the spring and fall of each year, thousands of religious pilgrims come to the basilica to pray before the Gnadenbild , the basilica’s Statue of Mercy. The church was elevated to a Basilica minor in 1948 by Pope Pius XII.