This museum, housed in a Renaissance castle from the 16th - 17th centuries, provides visitors with an overview of the stone-age and early history of the region and of its earliest medieval settlements. Also presented is the development of the castle hill from the fortress castle of Heinrich I to the secular womens collegiate convent with close ties to the imperial family. Important aspects of the history of the city are illuminated as well.

Amongst the most important objects exhibited are the findings from a bronze-age hoard on the Lehof and the golden broach from Groß-Orden. Legends abound in regards to the "Robber Counts Box, a wooden prison cage associated with the capture of Count Albrecht II of Regenstein which can be viewed in the museum.

The Historical Library of Quedlinburg, whose holdings were collected in Baroque times, reflects not only the history of Quedlinburg but also the intellectual and cultural history of the entire German speaking realm. Today it is maintained by the museum as a research library. 

The representational rooms of the castle offer insight into the living style of the nobility in the 17th and 18th centuries. The successful restoration of these rooms was carried out so as to authentically reflect their state in the eras of the Baroque and of Classicism.

The Ottonian vaulted cellar of the castle is the site of a comprehensive permanent exhibition, "Following the Tracks of the Ottonians.The visitor receives introductory information on the history of the fortress castle of Quedlinburg and its Ottonian rulers. The exhibition then focuses on the beginnings of the secular women`''s imperial collegiate convent, founded by Heinrich I in the year 936, and its historical development. International treasures of art, including, for example, the oldest remains of German stucco decoration (10th century) in the German speaking realm give this room its particular authentic flair. The pursuit of the tracks of the Ottonians in this exhibition leads past the middle ages up into the 19th and 20th centuries. Under the title History and Propaganda, the question is posed as to how and why Quedlinburg`s medieval history was appropriated and abused, above all, by the National Socialists.

https://www.quedlinburg.de

Schlossmuseum (Quedlinburg)

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Das Große Schloss Blankenburg ist ein Bauwerk in der Stadt Blankenburg im Landkreis Harz (Sachsen-Anhalt). Es wurde im Wesentlichen in der Barockzeit auf der Grundlage älterer Bausubstanz errichtet.

Geschichte

Mittelalter

1123 griff Lothar von Süpplingenburg von der Blankenburg die Heimburg an. Die Lehnshoheit fiel später durch Heinrich den Stolzen, Vater Heinrichs des Löwen, an die Welfen.

Im Jahre 1128 erhielt Poppo aus dem fränkischen Adelsgeschlecht der Reginbodonen die Grafschaft als Lehen. Dessen Söhne teilten sich die Grafschaft: Konrad erhielt die Burg Regenstein, Siegfried I. die Blankenburg. Von einer Pilgerfahrt mit Heinrich dem Löwen kehrte Siegfried I. nicht mehr zurück. Er hinterließ zwei Söhne, Heinrich und Siegfried II.

1181 begann unter der Regie des Bischofs Dietrich von Halberstadt die Belagerung der Burg und Blankenburgs durch kaiserliche Heere. Kaiser Friedrich Barbarossa übernahm die Regierung.

1182 wurde Blankenburg erobert und schließlich zur Plünderung freigegeben. Die Brüder Heinrich und Siegfried II. gingen in Gefangenschaft, erhielten aber nach wiederhergestelltem Frieden die Grafschaft zurück. Der Neubau und eine großzügige Erweiterung der Burg begann.

Graf Heinrich übernahm 1190 die „erledigten“ Güter der Regensteiner und Siegfried II. behielt die Grafschaft Blankenburg, dessen Nachkommen bis 1343 Blankenburg in ihrem Besitz hielten. Danach fielen die Blankenburg und die Burg Regenstein zurück an die jüngere Heimburger Linie der Regensteiner.

1386 soll einer Legende nach die Blankenburg heimlich in der Nacht durch Dietrich von Wernigerode geplündert worden sein, während Graf Busso abwesend war. Als Beleg dieses Überfalls gilt ein in der Burgmauer befindliches Haupt.

Renaissance

Um 1500 sah sich Graf Ulrich XI. trotz großer Schulden gezwungen, den Ostflügel niederzulegen und einen schlossähnlichen Neubau errichten zu lassen. 1539 sagte sich Graf Ulrich V. von der katholischen Kirche los.

Am 19. November 1546 brach noch vor Bezug des Neubaus nachts ein Brand aus, der große Teile des alten Schlosses zerstörte. Der Legende nach wurde das Feuer durch den Einheizer des Schlosses unter der Treppe des alten Schlosses mit trockenem Reisig entfacht, nachdem dieser von Baptisten mit Gold bezahlt worden war. Die schlafenden Bewohner bemerkten erst spät den Brand. Über Dächer und Fenster flohen die Mägde und Diener die Wände hinunter, vergaßen jedoch ihre Herrschaften. Die jüngeren Kinder wurden, in Tüchern gewickelt, aus den Fenstern von den Wärterinnen abgelassen. Die schwangere Gräfin Magdalena von Regenstein wurde von den Flammen eingeschlossen. Die Gräfin bat ihren Gatten Graf Ulrich, sie zu verlassen, um sein Leben zu retten. Der Graf rettete sich durch das Abortfenster und hing von außen hinunter. Unten wurde der halbverbrannte Graf gerettet. Im Gedenken an den Brand und die Toten ließ Graf Ulrich eine Gedenktafel in lateinischer und deutscher Sprache anfertigen. Darauf sind der Graf, die Gräfin, die sechs Söhne und vier Töchter dargestellt.

1599 starb das Regensteiner Grafengeschlecht aus und das Schloss ging zurück an die Herzöge von Braunschweig.

Barock und Neuzeit

1705 begann der Umbau des Renaissanceschlosses zur barocken Residenz durch den Landbaumeister Hermann Korb im Auftrag von Herzog Ludwig Rudolf von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. Die Umbauten sahen eine schlichtere und klarere Gliederung der äußeren Form vor und dauerten bis 1731. Repräsentationsräume (Grauer Saal, Redutensaal, Kaisersaal) im Innern und eine Hofkirche als mehrgeschossiges Oktogon entstanden.

Im Zusammenhang mit der Eheschließung Elisabeths Christine unter der Residenz Ludwig Rudolfs mit dem späteren Kaiser Karl VI. wurde durch Kaiser Joseph I. Blankenburg in den Status des Fürstentums erhoben. Elisabeth Christine wurde Mutter der späteren Kaiserin Maria Theresia.

Die Familie des Herzogs Ernst August von Braunschweig und seiner Gattin Herzogin Victoria Luise Prinzessin von Preußen bewohnte von 1930 bis zur Flucht und Enteignung im Jahre 1945 das Schloss, das der Familie im Zuge der Fürstenentschädigung 1924 als Privateigentum zugesprochen wurde. Im Jahre 1917 wurde hier die einzige Tochter des Herzogspaares, Friederike, die spätere Königin der Hellenen und Mutter der spanischen Königin Sophia, geboren. 1938 fand hier ihr Hochzeitsfest anlässlich der Heirat mit Prinz Paul von Griechenland, dem späteren König, statt. Berühmt wurde der Hof Blankenburgs durch glänzende Feste und Theateraufführungen.

1945 wurde das Schloss zum Volkseigentum erklärt und wurde von 1947 bis 1957 von der Sozialversicherung als Genesungsheim genutzt. Von 1957 war die Fachschule für Binnenhandel im Schloss untergebracht. Während dieser Nutzung wurde das Gebäude baulich instand gehalten. Nach der Schließung der Schule mit dem Ende der DDR im Jahr 1991 begann eine lange Zeit ohne Nutzung, die zu einer Unterlassung der Gebäudeunterhaltung führte. Pläne eines Käufers, der das Schloss im Jahr 1996 erworben hatte, um es zum Zentrum eines größeren Tourismusprojekts zu machen, wurden nicht realisiert. Jahre des Verfalls folgten, dessen Folge undichte Dächer, dauernde Durchfeuchtung des Gebäudes und Befall mit Hausschwamm waren und zur Gefahr des Einsturzes führten. Vandalismus- und Diebstahlsschäden sorgten für weiteren Niedergang.

Im Jahr 2004 wurden die ersten Sicherungsarbeiten am Schloss durchgeführt, die sich noch das ganze Jahr 2005 hinzogen. Zeitgleich begann man mit den Vorbereitungen für die Sanierung, mit der dann im Dezember 2006 begonnen wurde. Zum ersten Sanierungsabschnitt gehörte die Schlosskapelle im Kirchenflügel des Schlosses und die Pförtnerloge. 2008 wurde das Schloss zwangsversteigert, neuer Eigentümer wurde die Großes Schloss Blankenburg GmbH, die eine Tochtergesellschaft des Vereins Rettung Schloss Blankenburg e.V. ist. Während im Theaterflügel noch Sanierungsarbeiten stattfanden, wurde der Theatersaal nach fast 20 Jahren Leerstand am 28. Mai 2011 erstmals wieder genutzt. Eine Außenstelle des Standesamtes der Stadt Blankenburg wurde Anfang 2012 im Grauen Saal des Schloss eingerichtet, die erste Trauung fand im Mai desselben Jahres statt. Am 15. November 2013 wurde die Turmuhr wieder in Betrieb genommen und offiziell die Teilsanierung des Küchenflügels abgeschlossen.

Blankenburg Castle (Harz)

Regenstein Castle is a ruined castle that lies three kilometres north of Blankenburg in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is a popular tourist destination where, each year, a knight's tournament and a garrison festival are held.

Of this once relatively impregnable castle, which was built in the early and high Middle Ages on a 294 metre high sandstone rock towering over the surrounding area, only ruins are visible today. Several internal rooms, carved into the rock, have survived, as have the ruins of the keep. The castle is surrounded by remnants of a more recent fortress. Regenstein Castle is No. 80 in the system of checkpoints on the Harzer Wandernadel hiking trail network. Below the castle is the site of the old Regenstein Mill that used to supply it with water.

Castle of the Regenstein counts

in 1162 the Comes de Regenstein (Count of Regenstein), Conrad, was mentioned for the first time. He was the son of Count Poppo I of Blankenburg from the House of Reginbodonen). The castle became renowned mainly through Count Albert II of Regenstein (1310-1349) who, in the 1330s, had frequent disputes with the rulers of the surrounding towns, the Bishop of Halberstadt and the Abbess of Quedlinburg. This has been romantically recounted in the ballad, Der Raubgraf ("The Robber Count"), by Gottfried August Bürger (music by Johann Philipp Kirnberger) and the novel by Julius Wolff (Der Raubgraf).

In the 15th century, the Regenstein counts moved to Blankenburg Castle. Regenstein fell into disrepair and became a ruin. The last male descendant of the noble family, Count John Ernest of Regenstein in 1599.
In 1643 after several changes of ownership Regenstein, which was sometimes written as Rheinstein or Reinstein, was enfeoffed by Archduke Leopold William of Austria in his capacity as Bishop of Halberstadt to the Lower Bavarian count, William of Tattenbach. From then on members of this noble family went under the title of "Count of Reinstein-Tattenbach". In 1671 John Erasmus, Count of Reinstein-Tattenbach was beheaded in Austria for being party to the magnate conspiracy, following which Prince-Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg confiscated the county.

Prussian fort

From 1671 the medieval castle was expanded into a fortress by the Prussians, who were the last users of its military function. The original castle occupies only a small part of the greater fortification. In 1677 the fort became a garrison. The length of its outer perimeter was extended in 1742 to 1,200 metres. Even under the French, to whom the fortress had to be handed over on 12 September 1757, it was extended structurally. The Prussians captured it five months later (12 February 1758) and rendered the position unusable. The powder magazine, which was located near the top was blown up. Of the fortress only the casemate, those facilities carved out of the rock and the (now restored) gateway remain. A characteristic of the fortress is the large number of cavernous rooms in the natural rock (one now houses an exhibition of archaeological finds from the castle site). Even the stables were hewn out of the rock. After 1758, the pastures and forests of the Regenstein went to the Prussian Amt of Westerhausen. From 1815 to 1945, following the reign of Westphalia (1807-1813, Canton Halberstadt Land), Regenstein became the smallest Prussian exclave and belonged to the district of Halberstadt. Today it is part of the town of Blankenburg.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the Regenstein on 11 September 1784 together with the artist, Georg Melchior Kraus, on his third trip to the Harz (8 August to 14 September 1784) to conduct geological studies (two drawings and a rock sample from Goethe's collection of rocks recall that visit). The first restaurant was opened in 1812, thus beginning the rock's role as a tourist attraction.



Regenstein Castle

Falkenstein Castle (German: Burg Falkenstein), also formerly called New Falkenstein Castle (Burg Neuer Falkenstein) to distinguish it from Old Falkenstein Castle, is a German hill castle in the Harz Mittelgebirge, dating to the High Middle Ages. It is located in the town of Falkenstein between Aschersleben and Harzgerode.

The castle lies at a height of about 320 m (1,050 ft) above the Selke valley near the village of Meisdorf in the Harz district, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is located within extended forests, today a protected area (Naturschutzgebiet). Also nearby are the ruined medieval castles of Ackeburg and Old Falkenstein Castle.

Falkenstein was built between 1120 and 1150 by the lords of the Konradsburg who henceforth styled themselves as Grafen von Falkenstein (Counts).

According to legend, Falkenstein Castle has its origins in a murder: around 1080, the Saxon nobleman Egeno II of Konradsburg slew Count Adalbert II of Ballenstedt in a fight, whereupon the murderer was allegedly made to give up his family seat to be converted into a monastery. As a result, Egeno's son, Burchard of Konradsburg, had the new Falkenstein Castle built.

In 1220, during the reign of Prince Henry of Anhalt the Anhalt ministerialis, Eike of Repgow, from what is now Reppichau, drew up the Sachsenspiegel the first German law book here. The book is dedicated to its commissioner, Hoyer of Falkenstein. In 1437 the castle was given as a fief by the Bishopric of Halberstadt to the House of Asseburg, in whose hands the castle remained until its confiscation after the Second World War.

The castle was one of several backdrops in the seven-part children's series shot by GDR television, Spuk unterm Riesenrad, and one of the locations for the DEFA fairy tale film Schneeweißchen and Rosenrot ("Snow White and Rose Red"), as well as featuring in the Polizeiruf 110 episode Die Entdeckung.

The original Falkenstein Castle was built between 1120 and 1150 in Romanesque style. Although it has been modified frequently since then, notably in the mid-16th century, it still retains the character of a medieval castle.

The castle was protected by seven gates and five zwinger. The side at which the main attacks were anticipated had a 17 metre high shield wall.

The castle site covers an area of about 310 x 90 metres. Its inner bailey, the gate and zwinger together with three outer baileys cover about 40 x 40 metres. In the centre of the inner bailey is the 31-metre-high bergfried whose walls have a thickness of 8.5 metres at a height of 2 metres. It is used today as an observation tower and is open to the public.

Originally, a wooden bridge used to connect the bergfried about 9 metres above the ground to the palas located in the northwest corner. Later (Gothic) alterations connected the buildings.

Today the castle houses a museum and is used as a venue for events. It is part of the Romanesque Road, a tourist route. The castle has a falconry and a restaurant that offers traditional 'knightly' food (Ritteressen).

The castle is No. 200in the network of hiking checkpoints known as the Harzer Wandernadel.

Falkenstein Castle (Harz)

Huysburg ([ˈhyːsbʊrk]; German: Kloster Huysburg) is a Benedictine monastery situated on the Huy hill range near Halberstadt, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The Romanesque abbey has existed since about 1080 and was secularised in 1804. A new Benedictine community was founded in 1972 and is headed by a prior since 1984.

Remains of a circular rampart denote a Frankish castle at the site, erected about 790 AD during the Saxon Wars of Charlemagne. When in the mid 10th century Emperor Otto I built his residence in Magdeburg on the Elbe river, the strategical significance of the Huy fortress decreased. In 997 Emperor Otto III ceded it to the Bishops of Halberstadt. According to the chronicles by the Annalista Saxo, they had a first chapel built on the Huy hills, which was consecrated in 1058. In 1070 Bishop Burchard II of Halberstadt gave permission to establish a hermitage of three Benedictine nuns from Quedlinburg and Gandersheim.

The first abbot, Ekkehard of Huysburg, a canon of Halberstadt Cathedral, was appointed on 24 December 1080 and ordained on 21 June 1081; he died three years later. The convent received extended manors by Bishop Burchard and from 1114 onwards was vested with further estates by Burchard's successor Bishop Reinhard. Beside the convent, the hermitage of nuns existed until the early 15th century.

Huysburg Abbey was among the earliest monasteries to join the reform movement of the Bursfelde Congregation in 1444 and by the late 15th century the convent comprises 31 monks. The economic situation suffered from the German Peasants' War and the Schmalkaldic War, as well as from the devastations during the Thirty Years' War. Nevertheless, Huysburg was one of the very few Catholic monasteries of the region which survived the Reformation under the provisions of the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia – Abbot Adam Adami was actively involved in the negotiations.

Within the secularised Principality of Halberstadt under the 'Great Elector' Frederick William of Brandenburg, the abbey again prospered as a centre of the Catholic minority. It was finally dissolved in 1804 as part of the secularisation process and its estates were taken by the Prussian state. Its domains were incorporated into the Province of Saxony. In 1823 King Frederick William III ceded them to his general Karl Friedrich von dem Knesebeck.

After World War II, the Knesebeck noble family was disseized by the Soviet occupation forces. Huysburg again became an ecclesiastical site, when a branch seminary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paderborn was set up here in 1952 for those parts of the diocese lying in East Germany. The seminary was closed in 1993 after the reunification of Germany.

The Benedictine community which is now located within the walls of the Huysburg was founded in 1972, then the only Benedictine monastery in East Germany. It was established as a filial by the monks of Tyniec Abbey in Kraków in cooperation with the Paderborn diocese and its Magdeburg administrator Johannes Braun. Huysburg was elevated to a priory on 8 September 1984.

Under the auspices of the newly established Diocese of Magdeburg, Huysburg since September 2004 has been joined as the priory of St. Matthias' Abbey in Trier. In August 2005 the brothers of St. Matthias' and of the Huysburg priory elected a joint abbot, Ignatius Maass, resident in Trier.

The Romanesque abbey church was consecrated on 7 August 1121. It contains the tomb of the Blessed Ekkehard, the first abbot of Huysburg. In 2004, at his own request, the former apostolic administrator in Magdeburg, Bishop Johannes Braun, was also laid to rest here.

The Huysburg is one of the main places of pilgrimage in the Diocese of Magdeburg, and many Catholics come there every year, for example on the first Sunday in September for the Family Pilgrimage of the Diocese.

Huysburg

Wernigerode Castle (German: Schloss Wernigerode) is a schloss located in the Harz mountains above the town of Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The present-day building, finished in the late 19th century, is similar in style to Schloss Neuschwanstein, though its foundations are much older. It is open to the public and one of the most frequently visited in Saxony-Anhalt.

The first mention of the Saxon noble Adalbert of Haimar, Count of Wernigerode, in an 1121 deed is also the first documentation of the settlement, which had been founded about a century earlier in connection with the deforestation of the area. The counts built the castle on a slope south of the town as their residence; it was first mentioned as a castrum in 1213. When the line became extinct in 1429, the Wernigerode lands were inherited by the neighbouring County of Stolberg. The castle became the seat of the subordinate Amt administration and was put in pledge several times.

When in 1645 the Stolberg-Stolberg line split, Wernigerode again became the capital of the County of Stolberg-Wernigerode. The counts however struggled with the citizens in the course of the Thirty Years' War and had to take their residence at nearby Ilsenburg House. It was not until 1710 that Count Christian Ernest cound relocated the seat of government back to Wernigerode, when he had the castle rebuilt as a schloss in a Baroque style. He ruled for 61 years, though he had to accept the overlordship of King Frederick William I of Prussia in 1714.

Christian Ernest's descendant Count Otto, first president of the Prussian Province of Hanover from 1867, president of the Prussian House of Lords from 1872 and German Vice-Chancellor from 1878, had the schloss again extensively rebuilt in a Neo-Romantic, style known as historicism, finishing the project in 1893. The entire complex includes a chapel built in 1880 according to plans by the renowned Vienna architect Friedrich von Schmidt. In 1945 the building was seized by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany.