Burg Aschersleben: Hilltop Castle Ruin in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.5
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Origins and Ascanian Associations
Burg Aschersleben, also known as Altenburg and Askania, is a hilltop castle ruin in Aschersleben, Germany, built in the eleventh or twelfth century on the site of an earlier fortified refuge. The elevated stronghold stood on Wolfsberg in the southwestern part of the present-day town. It is also called the Old Castle on Wolfsberg and Ruin Askania.
The earlier refuge was a defensive enclosure intended to protect the local population, but it was abandoned at an early date. The later castle may sometimes have served as a residence for the counts of Ballenstedt, the noble dynasty known in English as the House of Ascania or the Ascanians. Whether they owned the castle or regarded it as their own ancestral stronghold remains uncertain.
Burg Aschersleben should not be confused with the ancestral castle of the counts of Ballenstedt. That castle stood at present-day Burgplatz, formerly called Burggarten, immediately outside the town and its later fortifications. The earlier site survives chiefly through names such as Burgplatz and Burgschule.
Destruction and Later Use
The extensive castle complex was destroyed during twelfth-century fighting between the Ascanian counts and Henry the Lion, a Welf duke who was among the most powerful princes in the medieval German territories. The fortified refuge had already passed out of use, and by the thirteenth century the site was described simply as a ruin.
Although the castle no longer functioned as a residence or stronghold, its tower continued to serve Aschersleben as a watchtower for a long period. The surviving structures therefore represent the remains of the castle on Wolfsberg rather than the former Ascanian ancestral castle associated with the town’s other castle place.
Preservation and Present Use
Burg Aschersleben is now represented by the surviving tower remnant and parts of its earthworks. A small permanent exhibition on the castle’s history is housed in the zoo keeper’s building, while the tower ruin is used as an enclosure for eagle owls.
Remains
Former Keep
The surviving tower fragment belonged to the castle’s keep, the principal fortified tower. It originally functioned as a residential tower and stood approximately 30 metres high. Only part of the structure remains within the grounds of Aschersleben Zoo, preserving evidence of the castle’s vertical defensive and residential core.
Castle Earthworks
Sections of the castle’s earthworks also survive on Wolfsberg. They include portions of the wall-and-ditch system that formed part of the hilltop fortification. Together with the tower remnant, these embankments and the ditch indicate the former defensive layout of the castle complex.
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