Burg Abbach, Medieval castle ruins in Bad Abbach, Germany.
Burg Abbach is a castle ruin on a hill overlooking the town of Bad Abbach, featuring a preserved ring wall and other structural remains. The ruins sit on elevated ground and dominate the immediate surroundings with their characteristic wall fragments.
Burg Abbach was first documented on 6 May 973. Emperor Henry II gave the site to the Bishopric of Bamberg on 1 November 1007; around 1200 or 1224 the Wittelsbachs took over the castle and the Danube toll. In 1297 Regensburg citizens burned it down, and after 1803 almost all buildings except the bergfried were demolished by 1832.
The tower is known in the local dialect as the Hungerturm, the hunger tower, alongside its name Heinrichsturm. A 1586 Salbuch records a wide courtyard with a round tower that had lacked a roof for many years, plus a deep draw well that did not always yield water. In 1632 and 1634 the townspeople of Abbach fled into the castle with their belongings and defended it.
The site is easiest to reach via Schloßberg street in Bad Abbach and sits on elevated ground visible from town. Visitors should expect uneven ground and wear sturdy shoes, as the paths to the ruins are not always paved.
The tower is called Heinrichsturm after Emperor Heinrich II, who was long said to have been born here, though no source proves it; locals also call it Hungerturm. In April 1945 bombs hit it because a German Wehrmacht observation post stood on top, and part of the outer masonry collapsed on 31 August 1979. Since 1985 a steel staircase leads up through the old high entrance.
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