Goseck Castle

An initial castle on this site was mentioned between 881 and 899 in the Hersfeld Tithe Register. This castle served as the ancestral seat of the Saxon Counts Palatine. In 1041, the complex was demolished by the sons of Count Palatine Friedrich I – Archbishop Adalbert of Hamburg-Bremen and Counts Palatine Dedo and Friedrich II. In its place, a Benedictine monastery was built, which was consecrated by Adalbert of Bremen in 1053. Following the Reformation, the monastery was secularized in 1540 and converted into a manorial estate. The main building was thereafter called “Schloss” (castle). Ownership changed hands among various families, including the von Altensee, von Königsmarck, and von Pölnitz, who had the monastery church converted into a castle chapel in 1609. Later, the Pfitzner, von Eckhardt, and von Brandenstein families followed, until Julius Graf von Zech-Burkersroda acquired the property in 1840.