Kyffhausen Castle
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/81/Blick_nach_Westen_vom_Kaiser-Wilhelm-I.-Denkmal_20210914_HOF05789_RAW-Export_20220414001950.jpg/320px-Blick_nach_Westen_vom_Kaiser-Wilhelm-I.-Denkmal_20210914_HOF05789_RAW-Export_20220414001950.jpg)
The Imperial Castle of Kyffhausen (
Location
The ruins of the imperial castle of Kyffhausen are located on the northeastern rim of the range on a hill, the Kyffhäuserburgberg (439.7 m above
The castle grounds are part of the Kyffhäuser Nature Park – situated about 300 m (980 ft) south of its northern boundary.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5e/Kyffh%C3%A4user1.jpg/220px-Kyffh%C3%A4user1.jpg)
Archaeological findings of several shoe-last celts at the summit denote a settlement already in the Neolithic period. Excavated Bronze Age ceramics may stem from devastated tumuli erected on the prominent spur. In the 1930s, remnants of fortress dating from the Hallstatt era were discovered.
A first castle high above the Tilleda Kaiserpfalz was probably erected under the rule of the
Reconstruction started shortly afterwards and was accomplished under the rule of the Hohenstaufen emperor
After the fall of the House of Hohenstaufen, the fortress lost its strategic importance. Rudolf of Habsburg, elected King of the Romans in 1273, ceded the premises to the Counts of Beichlingen, who from 1375 held the castle as vassals of the Wettin landgraves of Thuringia. Given in pawn to the comital House of Schwarzburg shortly afterwards and seized by the Counts of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1407, the fortress was already mentioned as a ruin in the 15th century.
From the time of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th century, even more in the Romantic era, the picturesque castle ruins became a popular destination for writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who wandered in the Kyffhäuser range together with Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar in 1776. The legend of Frederick Barbarossa asleep in the mountain, perpetuated by Friedrich Rückert in an 1817 poem, became a symbol of rising German nationalism, illustrated by regular meetings of Burschenschaft fraternities and finally by the erection of the Kyffhäuser Monument from 1890 onwards. In 1900 the Kyffhäuserbund veterans' and reservists' association took its name from the historic site.
Footnotes
- ^ See e.g. in Goebel, Stefan (2007). The Great War and Medieval Memory. Cambridge: CUP. p. 265: "Amidst the ruins of Kyffhausen Castle..."
- ^ See e.g. Barrowclough, David (2017). Digging for Hitler. Fonthill. "Schirmer was recommended to him for his work at the Ahnenerbe's Kyffhauser Castle dig..."
- ^ See e.g. Willson, A Leslie (2015). Surveys and Soundings in European Literature. Princeton: PUP. p. 7: "As late as 1546 an insane tailor was found in the ruins of Kyffhäuser Castle..."
- ^ See e.g. Kim, Hoo (2007). Art of Success. New Day. p. 120: "Among Germans, a folk belief is widespread that he didn't die but is asleep in Kyffhaueser Castle...
References
- Federal Agency for Nature Conservation
- ^ Sachsen-Anhalt-Viewer Archived 2012-12-04 at archive.today
Literature
- Wolfgang Timpel: Die mittelalterliche Keramik der Kyffhäuserburgen. In: ISBN 3-05-000400-2, pp. 249ff.
- Hansjürgen Brachmann: Zum Burgenbau salischer Zeit zwischen Harz und Elbe. In: ISBN 3-7995-4134-9, pp. 97–148, specifically pp. 118–120, 129 ff. (Cat. No. 2–3).
- Holger Reinhardt: Zum Dualismus von Materialfarbigkeit und Fassung an hochmittelalterlichen Massivbauten. Neue Befunde aus Thüringen. In: Burgen und Schlösser in Thüringen. Vol. 1, 1996, ISSN 1436-0624, pp. 70–84.
- Karl Peschel: Höhensiedlungen der älteren vorrömischen Eisenzeit nördlich des Thüringer Waldes. In: Albrecht Jockenhövel (ed.): Ältereisenzeitliches Befestigungswesen zwischen Maas/Mosel und Elbe (= Veröffentlichungen der Altertumskommission für Westfalen. Vol. 11). Internationales Kolloquium am 8. November 1997 in Münster anlässlich des hundertjährigen Bestehens der Altertumskommission für Westfalen. Aschendorff, Münster, 1999, ISBN 3-402-05036-6, pp. 125–158, especially pp. 134 and 139, Abb. 10 and 150.
- Thomas Bienert: Mittelalterliche Burgen in Thüringen. 430 Burgen, Burgruinen und Burgstätten. Wartberg, Gudensberg-Gleichen, 2000, ISBN 3-86134-631-1, pp. 166–172.
- Dankwart Leistikow: Die Rothenburg am Kyffhäuser. In: Burgen und frühe Schlösser in Thüringen und seinen Nachbarländern (= Forschungen zu Burgen und Schlössern. Vol. 5). ISBN 3-422-06263-7, pp. 31–46 (here also a short summary of the Imperial Castle of Kyffhausen with a comprehensive bibliography).
- Ralf Rödger, Petra Wäldchen: Kyffhäuser, Burg und Denkmal (= Schnell Kunstführer. Bd. 2061). 11th, fully revised edition. Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg, 2003, ISBN 3-7954-5791-2.
- Heinrich Schleiff: Denkmalpflege an den Kyffhäuser-Burganlagen und dem Kaiser-Wilhelm-National-Denkmal von 1990–2003. In: Aus der Arbeit des Thüringischen Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege (= Arbeitsheft des Thüringischen Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege. Neue Folge Bd. 13). Vol. 1. Thüringisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Erfurt, 2003, ISBN 3-910166-93-8, pp. 122–128.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Information at the Kyffhäuser Tourist Association website
- Information on the imperial castle and Kyffhäuser Monument at the website of the newly opened Burghof Kyffhäuser Denkmalswirtschaft