6 - the Kipfenberg prison

Prison Building during the Prince-Bishops' Time

The old Kipfenberg prison, or "Fronfeste", is located just to the left of the Church of the Assumption of Mary, on Kipfenberg's Geißberg, or in English, “goat hill”. It is an elongated building in the "Altmühl Jura" architectural style, with its characteristic, gently sloping gable roof. Painted in light yellow, the building stands idyllically at the foot of the castle hill. It has a pleasant front garden and is accessible on the church side by way of a short, not-too-steep staircase.

Prison during the Prince-Bishops' Time

As cozy as the complex might appear today, its original purpose was quite different. During the time of the Prince-Bishops, this was Kipfenberg’s prison. We don't know exactly when it was built; we can only speculate. Anton Gäck, a former heritage preservation officer, believed the building dates back to the 16th century, when the bishop's caretaker still held the office of judge in Kipfenberg. In 1968, Gäck reported in the Eichstätter Kurier, our local newspaper, that all windows had been iron-barred until recently and that there were seven prison cells, so-called "Keuchen," along with an apartment for the court clerk, or jailer. Serious criminals were seldom held in the prison; most were there for minor offenses that resulted in short sentences.

An Amusing Episode

When writing his book about the history of Kipfenberg, Dr. Elmar Ettle found a rather amusing article in the Eichstätter Volkszeitung, a local newspaper at the time, dated April 1879. Here an excerpt: "The young S. had to serve a sentence of several days in the court's Frohnfeste for persistent school absence. His stay there seemed too austere to the young good-for-nothing, so he plotted his escape, and not in vain. With a clamorous scream he cried out that his wooden chamber pot was leaking. The bailiff's wife agreed to examine his chamber for the alleged inconvenience, but while she was searching diligently for the cause of the fictitious problem, S. escaped from the cell in one bound and from the Frohnfeste in a few short steps. The shrewd little fellow, however, did not forget to lock the cell during his escape, so that the good-natured bailiff's wife had to enjoy for several hours the sweetness of being locked up." By the end of the 1880s, the old Kipfenberg prison had served its purpose. A new prison had been built next to the district court building on the Kindinger Straße, and in December 1899, the old Fronfeste was auctioned off in the Gasthaus Engel for 1,500 marks.