Oberellen Castle

The origins of the estate date back to the 12th century, when the village of Oberellen came into the possession of the Knights of Goldbach. A part of the private property in Elnde was ceded to Reinhardsbrunn Monastery in 1121. An already existing chapel in the village was elevated to a provostry by the abbot, and the surrounding estates were consolidated into a monastic farmstead. After the secularization of the Thuringian monasteries, the property fell to the Eichsfeld noble family of Hanstein in 1543, who subsequently acted as judicial and feudal lords. From 1594, a branch of the Hanstein family began building the current castle on the foundations of the former farmstead. Lippold von Hanstein moved into the building from 1604.