Details
Founded: 1209-1212Category: Castles and fortifications in Germany
Historical period: Hohenstaufen Dynasty (Germany)
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Burg Rabenstein is a well-preserved medieval hilltop castle located near the village of Raben in Brandenburg’s Fläming region. Built between 1209 and 1212, it was originally constructed to secure a key trade route between Wittenberg and Brandenburg an der Havel. Over the centuries, the castle changed hands many times, serving as a noble residence, an administrative seat, and later a private estate. It was plundered during the Thirty Years’ War in 1636 and eventually came under the ownership of the Dukes of Anhalt-Dessau. After World War II, it was repurposed as a forestry school and later as a youth hostel.
Today, Burg Rabenstein is privately leased and operates as a cultural and tourist site. It houses a rustic hostel, a tavern, and a falconry, and regularly hosts events such as medieval festivals, knight-themed dinners, and seasonal markets. The castle has also served as a film location for historical movies.
Architecturally, the most prominent feature is the 30-meter round keep, visible above the treetops. Next to it stands a two-story gatehouse from around 1250, later expanded in the Baroque style. The main building combines rough fieldstones and bricks, while several ancillary structures, including a former stable now called the “Knight’s Hall,” surround the courtyard. The thick outer wall, over 1.7 meters wide, is supported by 18 buttresses, though its original battlements are no longer preserved.
Near the castle entrance stand three protected natural monuments: a horse chestnut and both a summer and winter linden tree. These trees are notable for their age, size, and rarity and are listed for conservation.
Radimlja is a stećak (monumental medieval tombstones, that lie scattered across Bosnia and Herzegovina) necropolis located near Stolac. The necropolis is one of the most valuable monuments of the mediaeval period in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The majority of its stećak tombstones date from the 1480s through the 16th century, as evidenced by the epitaph on one of the tombstones. This was the period when the family Miloradović-Stjepanović from genus Hrabren lived in the settlement located on near hill Ošanići. At the time the location was known as Batnoge, and the creation of the necropolis coincides with the rise of this noble family.
The necropolis includes 133 stećci. When the Čapljina-Stolac road was built during the Austro-Hungarian period in 1882, it ran through the necropolis and destroyed at least 15-20 tombstones.