Germany · 12th century
Saaleck Castle ranks #4,707 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #393 of the 714 mapped in Germany. Founded 1200, it is older than 75% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 763 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,855 times in the last 60 days, more than 67% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.
Saaleck Castle (German: Burg Saaleck) is a hill castle near Bad Kösen, now a part of Naumburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.
It was constructed in the 12th century. For details, see among Saaleck (Naumburg) Saaleck town history.
In 1922, two of the men who had killed Walther Rathenau, the foreign minister of Germany, hid at Saaleck Castle but were tracked down by the police. The Nazi regime later put up a memorial plaque at the castle and turned their grave in Saaleck cemetery into a heroes' shrine.
The castle is now mostly ruined, but its two towers feature small exhibits and it is a popular tourist attraction. Saaleck Castle is a stop on the designated tourist route Straße der Romanik ("Romanesque Road").
Text adapted from “Saaleck Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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