Wysburg, Medieval castle ruin in Remptendorf, Germany

Wysburg is the ruin of a hilltop castle on a 443 m spur of the Schloßkuppe, 1.8 km north of Weisbach and 1.2 km east of Neuenbeuthen in the Saale-Orla-Kreis. It is divided into an outer bailey and a main castle. Excavated and partly rebuilt walls include the outer bailey's economic buildings with a baking oven, the bergfried, palas, residential tower, gate, rampart-ditch system and a rock cistern 7.5 m across and 8 m deep holding about 350,000 litres. Rebuilt sections are marked with red bricks.

The Wysburg was built in the last decades before 1300 on the Schloßkuppe by the Vögte von Gera, who had held the Herrschaft Weisbach since the mid-13th century. It replaced an older motte of the Lobdeburg family as a border fortress against the Schwarzburgs. In 1354, during the Vogtländischer Krieg, a Bohemian army under Karl IV invaded the Vögte's lands; the castle was probably destroyed that autumn and afterwards razed.

The ruins show how castles were once built and were part of the protection system for the region. You can still see today in the stones which techniques the craftspeople of that time used.

The ruin lies on a 443 m high spur of the Schloßkuppe, 1.8 km north of Weisbach and 1.2 km east of Neuenbeuthen. The walls were partly rebuilt after 1985, with red bricks marking the original height. The rock cistern measures 7.5 m across and 8 m deep.

The ruins belong to a network of fortified structures in this region, showing how widespread castle building was in medieval times. Many of these structures are barely visible today, which makes these remains particularly valuable.