Burg Geiersberg

The castle occupies a rocky summit and is laid out around a rectangular inner ward from the early 1200s. The inner ward was built directly on the rock and forms the core of the site. A residential hall on the northeast side, erected in the early 1200s, survives only as low wall remains that mark the footprint of the former living quarter.

A dominant feature is the six‑storey square keep, built in the early 1200s in regular rubble masonry. The lower levels retain narrow defensive slits with stone-framed jambs, evidence of its original military purpose and role in town protection. During later interventions historicizing twin‑arched windows were added to the upper floors and a Renaissance-style wooden balcony was fixed in place in 1912, combining medieval fabric with later decorative elements.

The outer curtain wall dates to the later 1200s and was constructed in layered rubble masonry. It was substantially renewed during the 1912 restoration and was given rectangular crenellations at that time. Some rectangular window openings with upright jamb stones survive in partially original form, showing how domestic and defensive needs were balanced along this wall.

On the western corner stood an originally open-sided shell tower, and a projecting shell tower is documented on the southwest side of the outer bailey. The formerly open western shell tower was filled in with masonry in 1912. These towers formed part of the castle’s perimeter defenses and were adapted over time.

The south‑corner tower, originally a rectangular projecting tower on the curtain wall, was converted to the Chapel of St. Anne around the turn of the 16th century. The chapel has an irregular three‑eighths apse and contains early 1500s wall paintings: an east‑wall crucifixion group, a southeast image of the Madonna with St. Elizabeth, and on the south wall scenes showing two bishops with knights, St. Anne with St. Joseph, and a half‑figure of St. Catherine. These frescoes suffered heavy overpainting in later periods and were restored in 1954. The chapel’s high altar dates to about 1670 and features a slightly concave altar wall articulated by niches and twisted, vine‑ornamented columns, with an antependium flanked by pilasters that carry angel heads.

The outer bailey was built in the early 1300s using irregular rubble masonry and encloses the approaches on the lower ground. A southwest stretch of the bailey wall partially collapsed in the twentieth century and was rebuilt in 1970. Near the south corner and on the southwest façade simple round‑arched gateways provide access through this outer enclosure.