Falkenstein Castle (german: Burg Falkenstein), also formerly called New Falkenstein Castle (''Burg Neuer Falkenstein'') to distinguish it from

Old Falkenstein Castle Old Falkenstein Castle (german: Burg Alter Falkenstein or ''Burg Alt-Falkenstein'') in the Harz Mountains of Germany is the castle site or '' burgstall'' of a high medieval hill castle. It lies on the territory of Falkenstein/Harz in the state of ...

, is a German

hill castle A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles a ...

in the

Harz The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German ...

Mittelgebirge A ''Mittelgebirge'' (German: ''Mittel'', "middle/medium"; ''Gebirge'', "mountain range") is a type of relatively low mountain range or highland area typical of the geography of central Europe, especially central and southern Germany; it refers to ...

'', dating to the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended around AD 150 ...

. It is located in the town of Falkenstein between

Aschersleben Aschersleben () is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 km east of Quedlinburg, and 45 km northwest of Halle (Saale). Geography Aschersleben lies near the confluence of ...

and

Harzgerode Harzgerode is a town in the district of Harz in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Harzgerode lies in the lower eastern part of the Harz mountain range on the Selke River, south of Quedlinburg. It is connected to Gernrode and Quedlinburg via Ale ...

Location

The castle lies at a height of about above the Selke valley near the village of Meisdorf in the

district, in the German state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it th ...

. It is located within extended forests, today a protected area (''

Naturschutzgebiet A ''Naturschutzgebiet'' (abbreviated NSG) is a category of protected area (nature reserve) within Germany's Federal Nature Conservation Act (the ''Bundesnaturschutzgesetz'' or ''BNatSchG''). Although often translated as 'Nature Reserve' in Engl ...

''). Also nearby are the ruined medieval castles of Ackeburg and

History

Falkenstein was built between 1120 and 1150 by the lords of the Konradsburg who henceforth styled themselves as ''Grafen von Falkenstein'' (Counts). According to legend, Falkenstein Castle has its origins in a murder: around 1080, the Saxon nobleman Egeno II of Konradsburg slew Count Adalbert II of Ballenstedt in a fight, whereupon the murderer was allegedly made to give up his family seat to be converted into a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

. As a result, Egeno's son, Burchard of Konradsburg, had the new Falkenstein Castle built. In 1220, during the reign of Prince Henry of Anhalt the Anhalt ministerialis,

Eike of Repgow Eike of Repgow (german: Eike von Repgow, also ''von Repkow'', ''von Repko'', ''von Repchow'' or ''von Repchau''; – ) was a medieval German administrator who compiled the ''Sachsenspiegel'' code of law in the 13th century. Life Little is known a ...

, from what is now Reppichau, drew up the ''

Sachsenspiegel The (; gml, Sassen Speyghel; modern nds, Sassenspegel; all literally "Saxon Mirror") is one of the most important law books and custumals compiled during the Holy Roman Empire. Originating between 1220 and 1235 as a record of existing loc ...

'' the first German

law book A law book is a book about law. It is possible to make a distinction between "law books" on the one hand, and "books about law" on the other. This distinction is "useful". A law book is "a work of legal doctrine". It consists of "law talk", that i ...

here. The book is dedicated to its commissioner, Hoyer of Falkenstein. In 1437 the castle was given as a

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

by the

Bishopric of Halberstadt The Diocese of Halberstadt was a Roman Catholic diocese (german: Bistum Halberstadt) from 804 until 1648.

to the House of Asseburg, in whose hands the castle remained until its confiscation after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The castle was one of several backdrops in the seven-part children's series shot by GDR television, ''Spuk unterm Riesenrad'', and one of the locations for the

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...

fairy tale film ''Schneeweißchen and Rosenrot'' ("Snow White and Rose Red"), as well as featuring in the ''

Polizeiruf 110 ''Polizeiruf 110'' ("Police call 110") is a long-running German-language detective television series likened to Poirot. The name links to the emergency telephone number of the ''Volkspolizei''. The first episode was broadcast 27 June 1971 in the ...

'' episode ''Die Entdeckung''.

Description

The original Falkenstein Castle was built between 1120 and 1150 in Romanesque style. Although it has been modified frequently since then, notably in the mid-16th century, it still retains the character of a

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

castle. The castle was protected by seven gates and five ''

zwinger "" () is a German word for outer ward or outer bailey. It represents an open kill zone area between two defensive walls that is used for defensive purposes. s were built in the post-classical and early modern periods to improve the defence ...

s''. The side at which the main attacks were anticipated had a 17 metre high shield wall. The castle site covers an area of about 310 x 90 metres. Its

inner bailey The inner bailey or inner ward of a castle is the strongly fortified enclosure at the heart of a medieval castle.Friar, Stephen (2003). ''The Sutton Companion to Castles'', Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2003, p. 22. It is protected by the outer w ...

, the gate and zwinger together with three outer baileys cover about 40 x 40 metres. In the centre of the inner bailey is the 31-metre-high ''

bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under Germ ...

'' whose walls have a thickness of 8.5 metres at a height of 2 metres. It is used today as an

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

and is open to the public. Originally, a wooden bridge used to connect the bergfried about 9 metres above the ground to the

palas A ''palas'' () is a German term for the imposing or prestigious building of a medieval ''Pfalz'' or castle that contained the great hall. Such buildings appeared during the Romanesque period (11th to 13th century) and, according to Thompson ...

located in the northwest corner. Later (

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

) alterations connected the buildings.

Present use

Today the castle houses a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

and is used as a venue for events. It is part of the

Romanesque Road The Romanesque Road (german: Straße der Romanik) is a scenic route in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt in central-east Germany. It is part of the Transromanica network, a major European Cultural Route since 2006. Route The route takes th ...

, a

tourist route A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoint ...

. The castle has a falconry and a restaurant that offers traditional 'knightly' food (''Ritteressen''). The castle is No. 200 in the network of hiking checkpoints known as the ''

Harzer Wandernadel The Harzer Wandernadel is a system of hiking awards in the Harz mountains in central Germany. The hiker (or mountain biker) can earn awards at different levels of challenge by walking to the various checkpoints in the network and stamping his or ...

''.

References

Harzer Wandernadel
''Stempelstelle 200 / Burg Falkenstein''
harzer-wandernadel.de
with map ''Grundriss der Kernburg Falkenstein'', ausflugsziele-harz.de

Sources

* * * * Berent Schwineköper (Hrsg.): ''Provinz Saxony Anhalt.'' In: ''Handbuch der Historischen Stätten Deutschlands.'' Band 11. Alfred Kröner Verlag, Stuttgart 1987, p. 117–118,

External links

Falkenstein Castle

Reconstruction sketch
by Wolfgang Braun

{{Authority control Castles in Saxony-Anhalt History of Anhalt Castles in the Harz Romanesque Road Falkenstein, Saxony-Anhalt Museums in Saxony-Anhalt Historic house museums in Germany