Schloss Brandenstein, Manor house in Ranis, Germany.

Schloss Brandenstein stands on a Zechstein reef in the Brandenstein district of Ranis, Saale-Orla-Kreis. The high-Baroque palace was built from 1698 to 1705 by Landrat Christoph Adam von Breitenbauch, who had the remains of the old castle removed and laid out a courtyard on the east side. The Vorburg was rebuilt from stones of the ruined Burg Stein; the foundations of a round garden pavilion survive. The facades carry an unconventional colour scheme.

The castle was founded in 1289 and passed to the Brandenstein lords in 1351 as a fief, who made it their family seat. Croatian troops heavily damaged the site during the Thirty Years War in 1634, after which it remained temporarily abandoned.

The castle takes its name from the lords of Brandenstein, documented from 1289, who held it as a Wettin fief from 1351. In 1584 it passed for 16,000 thalers to the lords of Breitenbauch, later Breitenbuch, who kept it until 1945. A small exhibition room upstairs, created as part of a seminar paper and open since September 2009, shows finds from the castle's history.

The castle stands on a Zechstein reef in the Brandenstein district of Ranis. The vegan Burgcafé, set up in the cellar in 2007, serves guests on a courtyard terrace and a west terrace. A small exhibition room on the upper floor, created as part of a seminar paper, has been open since September 2009. Parts of the first floor are used as the owners' living quarters.

After the attack by Croatian soldiers in 1634, the castle stood empty for a while and was called the deserted house. This name remained in regional documents and reminds us how war damage could make entire buildings uninhabitable.