Lauf Castle
Lauf Castle (German: Wenzelschloss or Burg Lauf, Czech: Hrad Lauf) was originally a medieval fortress in the town of Lauf an der Pegnitz near Nuremberg. The German name Wenzelschloss is derived from to the present day surviving statue of Saint Wenceslas on the facade of the entrance gate. The castle built the Emperor Charles IV in 1356, on the way between Prague and Nuremberg on the ruins of an older castle. The dominant feature of the castle is the hall of arms with a character galleries discovered in 1934. Under a layer of old paint was hidden 112 coats of arms of the Bohemian Kingdom. It is the most precious collection of Czech and Moravian heraldry.[1]
Lauf was lying in an area called Bohemian Palatinate, which was once part of the Czech Crown lands. In 1373 Charles IV. ceded the Castle along with parts of the Bohemian Palatinate to Otto V, Duke of Bavaria in exchange for Margraviate of Brandenburg. Wenceslaus IV lost the rest of Bohemian Palatinate in 1401.
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Coordinates: 49°30′36″N 11°16′55″E / 49.510°N 11.282°E