Stamp point 208 / Grillenburg castle ruins

The ruins of Grillenburg Castle are located east of the Sangerhausen district and state-approved resort of Grillenburg.

Gril­len­berg was first men­tioned as ear­ly as the 9th cen­tu­ry in a direc­to­ry of the Hers­feld monastery as a place “Corile­dorpf” sub­ject to tithes. In 1217, today’s ruins were first men­tioned in doc­u­ments as “Burg Grel­len­berch”, which served to pro­tect the Sanger­häuser Mulde. The use of brick as a build­ing mate­r­i­al is par­tic­u­lar­ly noteworthy. 

In a feud in 1361, the cas­tle and the town were cap­tured by the Count of Mans­feld, who had to give every­thing back just one year lat­er. Dur­ing the siege of the cas­tle, the local farm­ers suf­fered great dam­age, so that they were exempt­ed from all ser­vices and duties for three years. 

In 1366, the cas­tle came into the pos­ses­sion of Duke Mag­nus of Brunswick. From 1485 to 1547, the cas­tle was giv­en as a fief to the von Morun­gen fam­i­ly and then revert­ed to the Sax­on office of Sanger­hausen. It is assumed that the cas­tle slow­ly fell into dis­re­pair after this time but was still inhab­it­ed at times. 

Gril­len­berg was affect­ed by the witch hunt from 1607–1614. Dorothea Krause was caught up in a witch tri­al and was burned to death in 1608. In 1614, a woman resist­ed tor­ture twice and was expelled from the country. 

The best start­ing point for a hike to Gril­len­burg Cas­tle is the park­ing lot at the for­est pool in Gril­len­berg. From there, fol­low the sign­post­ed hik­ing trail to the cas­tle ruins.