Obere Sachsenburg Castle

The Obere Sachsenburg is a castle ruin near Sachsenburg, a district of the municipality of Oldisleben in the Kyffhäuserkreis in Thuringia.

Of the medieval castle, the keep and the ruin of the palas are still preserved.

The ruin of the spur castle is located north above the eponymous village on the east-southeast slope of the Hainleite ridge. In the forest high above the Thuringian Gate, through which the Unstrut flows, it is located about 450 m northwest of the Untere Sachsenburg (also called Hakenburg).

The castle was probably built in the second half of the 13th century by Count Siegfried of Anhalt (1252–1310). He had occupied the Palatinate of Saxony after the death of the last Ludowingian Landgrave Heinrich Raspe (1241–1247).

According to the available finds, the castle had a Frankish predecessor from the 7th and 8th centuries. The castle secured access to the central Thuringian Basin.

Whether the demolition of Saxinberg Castle, stipulated in the Treaty of Weißenfels in 1249, actually took place is doubtful. In 1287, the castle must have been present, as it was successfully defended against Adolf I of Nassau (1277 – 1298). In 1319, a distinction was first made in documents between the Obere and Untere Sachsenburg.

Through the marriage of Dietrich von Hohnstein to Sophia von Anhalt, the castle came into the possession of the Counts of Hohnstein in 1316. Also through marriage, the castle came into the possession of the Counts of Beichlingen from 1335 to 1407. From 1407, the castle was the property of the Landgraves of Thuringia and Dukes of Saxony. In contrast to the Hakenburg, however, the upper castle remained outside the administrative district and was temporarily granted by Duke Georg of Saxony to the Lords of Bendeleben.

Around 1640, the dilapidated complex was abandoned. In 1890, a restaurant was built into the ruin of the palas, which burned down in 1945.