Main information:

Main castle

Knights’ Hall – visitors’ centre with museum cash desk

 

The east side of the castle courtyard is dominated by the Knights’ Hall; its surrounding walls were built soon after 1255, and are thus one of the oldest parts of the castle. The Knights’ Hall, a dining hall with heating facilities for the duke’s followers and court servants, was a central element of the medieval castle. The duchess, her Senior Mistress of the Court and the unmarried women – the female members of the court – dined in the women’s hall.

After comprehensive renovation, the impressive ground floor of the Knights’ Hall is now the visitors’ centre of the Bavarian Palace Administration with the museum cash desk and museum shop. The restored hall on the first floor provides a unique setting for events.

 

Knights’ Hall – visitors’ centre

During the renovation, comprehensive archaeological investigations and research were also carried out which shed light on both the complex building history of this central part of the main castle and the early history of the castle itself. The Knights’ Hall built in around 1255/60 originally had two halls, the upper of which served as the dining room while the lower one was more like a cellar, and is thus thought to have been used originally for storing provisions. In the description of the castle dating from 1573, the vaulted hall under the dining room is however described as a wine cellar, and the food provisions were actually stored on the ground floor of the Palas.

The excavation site in front of the east wall of the ground floor hall shows walls and foundations of preceding buildings dating from the 11th and 12th centuries that were discovered during the archaeological investigations of 2001/02, as well as traces of various alterations made to the Knights’ Hall. The burial ground from the 11th century discovered in the northern part of the ground floor hall was covered over again to preserve it.