Germany · 11th century
Harzburg ranks #3,867 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #315 of the 714 mapped in Germany. Founded 1065, it is older than 88% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 439 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,866 times in the last 60 days, more than 68% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.
The Harzburg, also called Große Harzburg ("Great Harz Castle"), is a former imperial castle, situated on the northwestern edge of the Harz mountain range overlooking the spa resort of Bad Harzburg in Goslar District in the state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It was erected from 1065 to 1068 at the behest of King Henry IV of Germany, slighted during the Saxon Rebellion in 1073-75, and a century later rebuilt under Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and his Welf successor Otto IV, who died here in 1218.
Later used as a robber baron's lair, the hill castle crumbled into ruins over the centuries. Today it has almost completely disappeared; only fragments of the foundation walls and the towers together with the castle well are preserved.
Text adapted from “Harzburg” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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