Schönburg Castle (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Burg Schönburg''), is in the municipality of Schönburg,

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It has been proposed by Germany as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

Location

The Late Romanesque ruins of Schönburg Castle are on top of a mottled sandstone cliff by the

Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Fränkische Saale, Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the M ...

River, which is 40 metres high and declines sharply in the west. The castle was built with the local mottled

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

History

The castle on top of the southern slopes of the Saale was erected as the most important castle in the 12th century on commission by the

bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Naumburg. The bishops owned several castles within their territory to secure their assets. From 1158 at the latest, a free Schönberg

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

that owned property around

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

named itself after the castle. It was first documented in 1157. Schönburg has been preserved to this day and is an example from the time of classical

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

construction.

Architecture

All the walls, gates and parts of 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 ...

have retained their original substance from the High Middle Ages, as have parts of the interior like visible

chimneys A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typically ...

dated to 1220 and decorated windows. The

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and decorations found here correspond to other monuments in the World Heritage nomination.

World Heritage Nomination

Schönburg Castle is one of the eleven components of the cultural landscape “

Naumburg Cathedral and the High Medieval Cultural Landscape of the Rivers Saale and Unstrut Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. ...

”. As a landmark the castle is an important part of the lines of sight connecting the

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the c ...

as a whole.The Förderverein Welterbe an Saale und Unstrut e.V. is the coordinating body for this nomination: http://www.naumburg-cathedral.de/. The World Heritage nomination is representative for the processes that shaped the continent during the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

between 1000 and 1300:

Christianization Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...

, the so-called “

Landesausbau Landesausbau describes medieval settlement and cultivation processes in regions of Western Europe that were previously only sparsely populated or uninhabitable. By means of clearing of woods and drainage of wetlands, new agricultural areas and new ...

” and the dynamics of cultural exchange and transfer characteristic for this very period.UNESCO (2017): WHC/17/41.COM/INF.8B1.

References

Notes

External links

Video of the cultural landscape of Naumburg
{{Authority control Heritage sites in Saxony-Anhalt 12th-century establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Castles in Saxony-Anhalt Sandstone buildings in Germany