Hinterer Schnecken Kulturinventar
Rear snail, Little Vine Court and Stork Building
The rear staircase, housed in an octagonal stair turret known as „Hinterer Schnecken“ (the „rear snail“), was built in 1583 by Hans-Georg von Giech. 154 steps lead up the spiral staircase to the topmost floor of the bower (women’s chambers).
The memorial engraving on the staircase wall recalls the castle’s acquisition by the Lords of Giech and Künßberg in 1565.
Sculptures, memorials and familial tombstones collected by Count Franz Friedrich Carl von Giech between 1846 and 1863 are on display in the bower’s niche, nicknamed the „Weinhöflein“ („Little Vine Court“). In 1672, three malefactors were imprisoned here after an affray and escaped from the poorly guarded niche.
Next to the bower stands the „Storchenbau“ or „Stork Building“. Old pulleys and machicolations point to it being the former gate until sometime before the 1580s. The building owes its name to the fact that its shape conjures forth an image of it standing on stork’s legs.
