Burgruine, Castle ruin and archaeological site in Neidenstein, Hollfeld, Bavaria, Germany

The Burgruine Neidenstein is the ruin of a hilltop castle at 410 m above sea level in the Neidenstein district of Hollfeld, in the Franconian Switzerland. Only remnants of the perimeter walls and the roughly ten-metre-high ruin of the three-storey palas remain. The site is a designated architectural heritage monument in Bavaria.

Built probably in the last quarter of the 15th century by the Lords of Aufseß, the castle was first mentioned in 1488 in a document of Christoph von Aufseß. In 1510 Wilhelm von Aufseß enfeoffed it to Bishop Georg of Bamberg; family disputes led to the castle and the village of Gerbersdorf being renamed Neidenstein. It was completely destroyed in the Peasants' War in 1525, rebuilt, and devastated by the Hollfelders during the Thirty Years' War; by 1652/1653 it was mentioned only as a ruin.

The name Neidenstein replaced the earlier name of both the castle and the associated village of Gerbersdorf after a dispute within the Aufseß family following the 1510 enfeoffment to the Bishop of Bamberg. The Hollfelders attacked and devastated the castle during the Thirty Years' War.

The site is open to walk through freely with paths winding between stones and overgrown remains. Visit in dry weather and wear suitable footwear because the ground is uneven and rough.

The castle and the village of Gerbersdorf were renamed Neidenstein around 1510, when a dispute arose among the Lords of Aufseß after Wilhelm von Aufseß enfeoffed the castle to Georg, Bishop of Bamberg. In 1525 the Peasants' War destroyed the complex completely; during the Thirty Years' War, while the Bishop of Bamberg occupied it, the people of Hollfeld attacked and devastated it. By 1652/1653 it was recorded only as a ruin.