Anhalt Castle
| Anhalt Castle | |
|---|---|
| Burg Anhalt | |
| Harzgerode | |
Foundation of the keep
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 Anhalt Castle
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| Coordinates | 51°40′05″N 11°11′35″E / 51.668067°N 11.193183°ECoordinates: 51°40′05″N 11°11′35″E / 51.668067°N 11.193183°E |
| Type | hill castle |
| Code | DE-ST |
| Site information | |
| Condition | Base of the keep, wall remnants |
| Site history | |
| Built | around 1123 |
| Materials | Brick |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | counts |
Anhalt Castle (German: Burg Anhalt) is a ruined medieval fortification near the town of Harzgerode in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
The castle is located in the eastern, lower part of the Harz mountain range (Unterharz). The ruins stand on the Großer Hausberg, a hill situated between the villages of Meisdorf and Mägdesprung, above the Selke valley. The area is part of the Harz/Saxony-Anhalt Nature Park; at a short distance up the Selke river is the preserved Falkenstein Castle.
The fortress was probably built by Count Otto of Ballenstedt (d. 1123), a member of the Saxon noble House of Ascania. Otto's grandfather Count Esico, mentioned in a 1036 deed issued by Emperor Conrad II, had ruled in the Saxon Schwabengau and the adjacent territories of the Saxon Eastern March. Otto assumed comital rights in Saxony after the assassination of his father Count Adalbert II in 1080; he married Eilika, the daughter of Duke Magnus of Saxony, and launched several campaigns against the Polabian Slavs. Shortly before his death, he turned the collegiate church in Ballenstedt into a Benedictine abbey and had Anhalt Castle erected as the dynasty's ancestral seat, from which the Ascanian Principality of Anhalt got its name.
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