Ried Castle in the Innkreis, castle

Ried Castle in the Innkreis no longer exists as a castle: nothing of the former hilltop fort on the Schlossberg remains. The site is now largely covered by buildings of the hospital run by the Barmherzige Schwestern. A 1721 engraving by Michael Wening shows the lost structure as a three-storey building with two further attic floors, made up of a main and a side building.

Ried Castle was first mentioned as castrum Ried in 1220, though a noble family had called itself after Ried since about 1140. In 1248 it passed to the Bavarian dukes, who installed burgraves, and it was expanded against the Muhringer of Eberschwang. It was set on fire in 1310, devastated by Duke Rudolf IV in 1364, and largely destroyed in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession, leaving only a two-storey remnant by 1780.

The name Ried appears in records from around 1140, when Reginger and Wernhard, sons of Pilgrim von Bodenhofen, called themselves after Ried as well as Bodenhofen; the fortified site itself is first documented as castrum Ried in 1220. In 1809 Napoleon Bonaparte set up his quarters here. From 1810 to 1816 the Bavarian district court (Landgericht) was housed in the building, and in 1849 the district administration took it over.

The Schlossberg is now largely built over by the hospital run by the Barmherzige Schwestern, so no castle structures can be visited. The site lies above the town centre of Ried im Innkreis; the former castle was linked to the market by a bridge, which collapsed in 1815. Look for the hospital buildings on the hill rather than any fortifications.

Nothing of the castle itself survives: the Schlossberg is now largely covered by hospital buildings run by the Barmherzige Schwestern. A 1721 engraving by Michael Wening shows what was lost, a three-storey main and side building with two further attic floors. In 1815 the footbridge from the market collapsed.