Postmark 84 / Altenburg (near Heimburg)

On the north-western edge of Heimburg rises Altenburg Castle (281 m above sea level), with the remains of the walls of Heimburg Castle, which was first mentioned in a document in 1073.

The cas­tle served to pro­tect trade routes and, after a long feud between the Heim­burg­ers and the Regen­stein­ers, even­tu­al­ly became the prop­er­ty of the Counts of Regen­stein. Dur­ing the peas­ant upris­ings and the Thir­ty Years’ War, the cas­tle was bad­ly dam­aged and even­tu­al­ly abandoned. 

After 1990, the ruins were uncov­ered, ren­o­vat­ed and pro­vid­ed with a pavil­ion as a view­ing point. A dis­play board, next to which there is also a stamp box, pro­vides inter­est­ing infor­ma­tion about the his­to­ry of the Altenburg. 

A good start­ing point is the park­ing lot in the cen­ter of Heim­burg, from where the sign­post­ed hik­ing trail leads up to Altenburg Cas­tle. You can con­tin­ue the hike from Heim­burg to Ben­zingerode to the Aust­bergturm HWN 83 and the Stapen­berg HWN 33.