Hornburg Castle

Hornburg Castle, once a frontier stronghold of the Bishopric of Halberstadt, is now the landmark of Hornburg in Lower Saxony. Standing on a wedge-shaped hill above the town, it features an oval inner bailey (40 × 100 m) surrounded by a curtain wall, a massive round keep with 3 m thick walls, and elaborate outer defenses with three semicircular flanking towers.

First mentioned in 994, it was the birthplace of Suitger of Morsleben—later Pope Clement II (r. 1046–1047). Over the centuries, the castle was repeatedly destroyed: by Emperor Henry V (1113), Henry the Lion (1179), the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1430), and Swedish forces in the Thirty Years’ War (1645). After its final destruction, it was never rebuilt and served as a stone quarry.

In 1927, private owner Georg Lüdecke partially reconstructed it on the medieval foundations, using romanticized medieval-style forms. Today, from a distance it appears as a medieval fortress, but up close it is a 20th-century residence with 800 m² of living space. Still privately owned, it cannot be visited.

Address
Burggraben 9, Hornburg, Germany

Established
10th century AD