Falkenstein Castle in the Harz: A Medieval Fortress in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page8 sections
History
Falkenstein Castle is a medieval fortress in Falkenstein/Harz, Germany, built between 1120 and 1150 by the lords of Konradsburg. Its founders later adopted the title Counts of Falkenstein.
Foundation traditions and legal history
A foundation legend connects the castle’s origins to an earlier killing. Around 1080, Egeno II of Konradsburg, a Saxon nobleman, allegedly killed Count Adalbert II of Ballenstedt during a quarrel. The story says Egeno had to give up his family seat so it could become a monastery, and credits his son Burchard with building Falkenstein. A Benedictine monastery was founded at Konradsburg after 1120.
After 1220, during the rule of Prince Henry, ruler of the principality of Anhalt, Eike of Repgow composed the Sachsenspiegel at the castle. This medieval law collection associated with Saxony was one of the earliest major legal works written in German. Eike, a jurist who served the nobility, dedicated it to Hoyer of Falkenstein, who had commissioned the work.
Asseburg ownership and rebuilding
In 1437, the Bishopric of Halberstadt granted Falkenstein to the brothers Busso and Bernd IV of Asseburg as a feudal holding. The Asseburg family retained the castle and Schloss Meisdorf until both were confiscated after the Second World War. Members of the family sponsored extensive building work in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Count Bernd VI of Asseburg-Falkenstein, born around 1451 and dead in either 1518 or 1524, had the south wing entirely rebuilt. A Harz legend associated him with Tidian, a poor shepherd whom Bernd was said to have blinded out of greed. Bernd was also accused of violating the public peace and murder.
Further changes followed, particularly in the mid-sixteenth century, while the castle retained its medieval character. Its defensive position was regarded as making it impossible to capture. In 1592, Augustus of Asseburg oversaw further work, and the Thalmühle was built below the castle in the Selke valley.
War, concealment, and museum
During the Thirty Years’ War, the major European conflict of 1618–1648 centered in the Holy Roman Empire, a Swedish garrison occupied Falkenstein from October 1642 until February 1643.
In 1943, Lothar von Asseburg-Falkenstein-Rothkirch and Karl-Christoph von Rothkirch buried part of the family treasure at Tormannswiese. In spring 1945, they hid more valuables in a windowless intermediate level of the castle’s spinning hall. The buried treasure was found in 1990, and the castle hiding place was opened in 1992, yielding around 3,000 items. After a lengthy legal dispute, most were awarded to the family and sold; a smaller group remained at the castle on permanent loan.
A museum has occupied the castle since 1946. A state foundation responsible for palaces, castles, and gardens took the property into its holdings in 1996 and assumed operation of the museum in 1998. The foundation is now known as the Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt.
Remains
The castle stands on a wooded rocky ridge in the Unterharz, about 320 metres above sea level, above the Thalmühle and the Selke valley. The site lies between Mägdesprung and Meisdorf, within the Selketal Nature Reserve and Harz Nature Park. Its footprint measures about 310 by 90 metres, with an approximately 40-by-40-metre core castle and three outer wards in front of it. The ruins of Old Falkenstein lie about 1.8 kilometres to the west-southwest.
Fortifications
The defenses included seven gates and five defended spaces between lines of fortification. A 17-metre-high wall protected the side expected to face the main attacks. Named features include an eastern bastion, a projecting gun platform, and Gates 1 and 2. Gate 2 and the southern defended passage lie below the central tower.
Central tower and residential hall
The castle’s principal defensive tower stands at the centre of the core enclosure. It rises 31 metres and has a teardrop-shaped plan, an 8.5-metre diameter, and walls two metres thick. Its pointed end faces east and forms a solid, wedge-shaped extension intended to deflect missiles and reduce the impact of incoming charges. The tower also served as an observation point over the Selke valley. Originally, a wooden bridge about nine metres above ground linked it to the residential hall in the northwest corner. Later Gothic alterations connected the two buildings.
Courtyard, installations, and finds
The interior courtyard faces the central tower and west wing. Castle installations include a 20-metre-deep cistern, an old kitchen, and a dining room. A surviving heraldic stone bears the inscription "Bernt van der Asseborch 1491." Finds from the family treasure include the Asseburg Cup. Building work in 2017 uncovered a cavity containing valuable Meissen porcelain, which is displayed in the castle museum on loan from its owners.
