Germany · Still standing
Wenzelschloss
Wenzelburg
Lauf Castle (Wenzelschloss) is a 14th‑century stone castle in the town of Lauf an der Pegnitz, built by Emperor Charles IV in 1356. Its most famous interior feature is the hall of arms, which preserves a large painted collection of Bohemian, Moravian and Silesian coats of arms; a statue of Saint Wenceslas adorns the entrance gate façade.
Its prime
1356
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1356
What Wenzelschloss looked like in its prime.
A compact stone watercastle standing at the Pegnitz in the town of Lauf, formed of solid masonry curtain walls enclosing an inner courtyard. The primary external focus is the main entrance gate whose façade bears a surviving statue of Saint Wenceslas above the gateway; beyond the gate a single large hall (the Wappensaal or hall of arms) fills much of the interior. Exterior surfaces are exposed stone; interiors of the hall are painted with rows of heraldic shields.
Its story
The story of Wenzelschloss.
Lauf Castle, the Wenzelschloss, was built in 1356 by the Emperor Charles IV on the road between Prague and Nuremberg, on the ruins of an older castle. Its German name, "Saint Wenceslas' Castle", comes from the statue of the patron saint of the Czechs that survives to this day on the façade of the entrance gate.
Lauf lay in the Bohemian Palatinate, an area once part of the Bohemian crown lands. In 1373 Charles IV ceded the castle with parts of the Palatinate to Otto V, Duke of Bavaria, in exchange for the Margraviate of Brandenburg; Charles's son Wenceslaus IV lost the rest of the Palatinate in 1401.
The castle's dominant feature is its hall of arms: in 1934, under a layer of old paint, 112 coats of arms of noblemen of the Crown of Bohemia were discovered, the most precious collection of Bohemian, Moravian and Silesian secular and ecclesiastical heraldry.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1356.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Wenzelschloss, including 2 interiors: hall of arms (wappensaal), wide interior view, detail of the painted coats of arms in the hall. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Wenzelschloss with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1356, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Castle Siege
Play Castle Siege at Wenzelschloss.
A strategy game played on Wenzelschloss’s real ground plan: the same surveyed walls shown in the archive below. Post your finite garrison on the battlements between assaults, then hold out as rams, siege towers, trebuchets and sappers arrive in ever-worse waves.
Sign in free to see the garrison muster. One castle costs 150 Clan Coins and is yours forever.
Sign in to take command →From the archive
Wenzelschloss on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
Wenzelschloss, Lauf: Ansicht von Südosten (aus: Blätter für Architektur und Kunsthandwerk, 21. Jg., 1908, Tafe
· Museum of Architecture at Berlin Institute of Technology (via Europeana)
CC0 (no rights reserved)
Wenzelschloss, Lauf: Ansicht von Westen (aus: Blätter für Architektur und Kunsthandwerk, 21. Jg., 1908, Tafel
· Museum of Architecture at Berlin Institute of Technology (via Europeana)
CC0 (no rights reserved)
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