Konradsburg

The Konradsburg is a former castle, monastery and manor house near Ermsleben in the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Konradsburg was first mentioned in 1021 and was originally built to protect the imperial demesne (Reichsgut) of the Harz. However it has no fortified towers, keep (bergfried) or great hall (Palas) to indicate that it was a fortified castle site.

After 1120, the Konradsburgs left this fortified hill spur, which lies about 3 kilometres south of Ermsleben and about eight kilometres west of Aschersleben, built Falkenstein Castle in the Selke valley and called themselves Falkensteins from 1142. On the Konradsburg a Benedictine abbey was founded which became the spiritual and economic centre of the area for several centuries. According to tradition, the conversion of the castle into a monastery had been a reparation imposed on Egeno II of Konradsburg for murdering Adalbert II, Count of Ballenstedt around 1080.

In 1477 the monastery was given to the Carthusians and became Konradsburg Charterhouse. As a result of the German Peasants' War, the monks gave up the monastery of Konradsburg in 1526. Existing structural and excavated remains have revealed the extent of the former monastery. Of the original three-aisled Romanesque basilica, the high chancel and its underlying crypt have been preserved. Despite its simplicity, the chancel conveys a sense of the impressive size of the ancient basilica. The crypt is a five-aisled, groined vault, supported by columns and pillars. Capitals and imposts, decorated with architectural ornaments (Bauzier) showing a wide range of influences (e.g. Rhenish-French), are testimony to the architecture of the 13th century. The main features of the buildings next to the church can be made out from the east and north wing of the enclosure (Klausur).

In 1712 the Konradsburg was put to agricultural use as the manor house for an estate, or Domäne, until 1945. In the centre of the old cloister stands the well house, a two-storey, timber-framed building, probably from the 18th century. The well is over 45 metres deep, probably dating to the time of the monastery and has a technical showpiece - a donkey gin (Eselstretrad). The other buildings were constructed in the 18th and 19th centuries for agricultural purposes.

After 1945, it was used for a short time for agricultural purposes by a private farmer.

Text adapted from “Konradsburg” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Konradsburg ranks #5,916 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #458 of the 505 mapped in Germany. Founded 1021, it is older than 91% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 325 atlas entries founded in the 11th century. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗