Schloss Birken
Situated on a small hill between the town center and the university in the district of the same name, the small castle was first mentioned in a document in 1459 as a house on the “Pircken”. In 1686, Margrave Christian Ernst von Brandenburg-Bayreuth gives his chief court marshal Hans Wilhelm von Erffa his hunting lodge Birken together with the estate and the associated land as a gift due to a salary arrears. 1687-1692 Demolition of the old hunting lodge and rebuilding of the present palace according to plans by the margrave’s architect Charles Philippe Dieussart.
The stucco ceilings of the staircase and in the state rooms on the second floor were designed and executed by the Italian Bernardo Quadri between 1689 and 1692.
