Giebichenstein Castle

Giebichenstein was first documented in 961 as “civitas, que Givicansten nuncupatur,” the main settlement of the Neletici Gau. In the 10th century, Emperor Otto I issued charters there. The original castle, whose exact location is presumed to be east of the current fortification, served the young Archbishopric of Magdeburg as a seat of power and as a state prison for nobles, including Heinrich von Schweinfurt and Ernst von Swabia. Under Archbishop Wichmann (1152–1192), the castle underwent a transformation. In the second half of the 12th century, a gate tower, a curtain wall, a south tower, a residential tower, and a palas were built on the castle rock.