What to See in Kronach - Top Sights and Attractions

Rosenberg Fortress is a hilltop castle surrounded by a Baroque fortification above the Upper Franconian town of Kronach. It is one of the best preserved fortresses in Bavaria and has never been taken by force in its long history, whose verifiable origins date back to the 13th century. Along with Forchheim Fortress, it was one of the two provincial fortresses of the Prince-Bishops of Bamberg, who over the centuries developed Rosenberg from a medieval protective castle into a Renaissance chateau and later into a modern fortress complex. With its numerous construction phases, the complex is considered an outstanding example of the development of fortified construction in Germany. Including moats and outer works, the built-up area covers about 8.5 ha; together with the former earthworks in the northern apron, the fortified terrain once covered 23.6 ha.

The Michaelsbrunnen is a listed fountain on the market square of the Upper Franconian town of Kronach.

Named after the Archangel Michael, the patron saint of the city, the sandstone fountain was first mentioned in 1543. The octagonal fountain basin was renewed in 1588 by master stonemason Georg Link, the fountain pillar and the figure of the archangel on it were created in 1672 by Hans Philipp Langenhan, a native of Coburg.

On the sides of the fountain pillar are depictions of four faces. The face on the north side shows Duke Bernhard of Saxony-Weimar, who fought on the Swedish side in the Thirty Years' War and whose troops also attacked the town of Kronach, which belonged to the Catholic diocese of Bamberg, in 1633. The two women's faces on the east and west sides represent the duke's mistresses who accompanied him on his campaign.

The statue of St. John Nepomuk in Andreas-Limmer-Strasse in the Upper Franconian town of Kronach is a representation of St. John Nepomuk.

The sandstone statue, which is now a protected monument, was erected in 1713, about 16 years before the canonization of the Bohemian priest in 1729. It is thus one of the oldest free-figure representations in Franconia. Originally, the statue was located on the southwest side of a bridge that crossed the Mühlbach, a branch of the Kronach River that runs between the buildings at Andreas-Limmer-Strasse 14 and 16 and now flows underground through the city. On the occasion of the piping of the Mühlbach in the 1960s, it was moved by about 60 meters to its current location on the northwest side of the Kaulangerbrücke bridge over the Kronach.

In 2013, the statue of Nepomuk, which had been damaged by the weather, was restored with funds provided by its owner and the city of Kronach. In the process, the two inscriptions on the pedestal were also made clearly legible again. The inscription in Latin on the front side facing the street contains the year of construction of the statue in the form of a chronogram, the inscription on the back side consisting of initials refers to the master builder Conrad Fischer and the mayor of the city at that time, Johann Andreas Stöcklein. The year of construction is 1713.

The Bürgerspital in the Upper Franconian town of Kronach is a social institution that probably originated towards the end of the 14th century. It originally served as a hostel for destitute transients and, from the 15th century, to accommodate and care for old and sick citizens who could not provide for their own maintenance. In the 19th century, the city's first hospital was built right next to the hospital and the associated Roman Catholic hospital church of St. Anne. In the mid-20th century, the hospital was closed and its buildings were annexed to the Bürgerspital, which continued to serve as a senior citizens' residential and nursing home until the spring of 2014. The buildings of the Bürgerspital, which is owned by the Spitalstiftung der Stadt Kronach, are mostly listed buildings.