Schloss Honhardt, Water castle in Honhardt, Frankenhardt, Germany

Schloss Honhardt is a former water castle built on a natural rock in the centre of Honhardt, part of Frankenhardt. It consists of a main house, a side wing, a closed inner courtyard, a surrounding wall-walk and the 11th-century bergfried. The main house was rebuilt in 1700, and a stucco ceiling with a dove symbol was completed around 1730.

The oldest part, the bergfried, dates to the 11th century; Honhardt itself was first mentioned in a 1024 charter of Emperor Heinrich II. Around 1300 the castle passed briefly to the Counts of Oettingen, and in 1314 it became Hohenlohe. In 1444 troops of the imperial city of Hall burned it down during the Bebenburg feud; Hall bought the ruined castle in 1446 and gave it to the Haller Spital, which built a palace-like residence in the second half of the 15th century.

The castle's name recalls the Herren von Honhardt, a lower-noble ministerial family who served as Burgmannen here from the 13th to the 15th century, first as vassals of the Counts of Flügelau and later of Hohenlohe. The village itself was one of the two main seats of the Herrschaft Lohr alongside Crailsheim. In the hall, a 1730 stucco ceiling shows a dove for the Holy Spirit, patron of the Haller Spital.

The castle is privately owned and not open to the public; its rooms hold the owner's arms collection and sales rooms. Visitors can walk around the exterior in the centre of Honhardt and see the main house, side wing, covered wall walk and medieval bergfried.

The Haller Spital, a hospital institution, acquired the ruined castle in 1446 and had a palace-like residence built on the site in the second half of the 15th century, using it as its administrative seat. The dove on the 1730 stucco ceiling of the second floor still refers to the Holy Spirit, the hospital's patron saint.