Ruine Hirschstein, Castle ruin in the Fichtelgebirge, Bavaria, Germany

Ruine Hirschstein is the ruin of a hilltop castle built on a rock outcrop on the Großer Kornberg in the Fichtelgebirge, at 744 m above sea level. A twelve-metre-long wall of the former main building survives, bending at a right angle for another six metres and standing up to four metres high. It is made of roughly hewn granite blocks laid dry, and traces of the foundation of a square tower are visible.

The castle was first documented in records from 1223, indicating the structure already existed at that time. Ceramic finds show continuous settlement from the 13th through 14th century under the Hirschberg family.

The name Hirschstein recalls the Hirschberg family, to whom Count Berthold von Henneberg granted the 'hus' on the Kornberg in 1317. The ruin later served as a watch post, and in the Thirty Years' War the vaults sheltered the rural population. A local legend of the 'Greifenburg' is thought to refer to this site.

The ruin sits at 744 metres on the Großer Kornberg, reached via the Nordweg between Kirchenlamitz-Ost station and the Kornberg summit. The main wall stands on a rock ledge, so the approach is steep and the ground uneven. The Markgrafenstein boundary stone lies 250 metres north along the hiking trail.

The Markgrafenstein, a boundary stone from 1742, stands 250 metres north of the ruin on a hiking trail. It marked the border between the margravial territory under Friedrich von Brandenburg-Bayreuth and Kirchenlamitz. The ruin itself later served as a watch post, and its vaults were filled in during the 18th century on margravial orders because vagrants had settled inside.