Steinbach Castle

Steinbach was first mentioned in 1168 in connection with a moated castle and the manor built upon it. The Jordanbach stream decisively shaped the settlement. The manor, church, and village developed as a street and row group village. In Catholic times, Steinbach belonged to the Diocese of Merseburg. In 1445, a knight's seat with two outworks was recorded, and in 1540, Hans von Holleuffer is named as the owner. Later followed the families von Weißbach, aus dem Winckel, and in 1608 Hans Georg von Zehmen. He married Anna Margarethe von Kitzscher in 1614. The Thirty Years' War brought Hans Georg v.Z. many hardships and plunderings. Over twenty times he had to flee from his possessions and goods. He had 17 children. The last two Zehmen owners of the Steinbach manor were Sigismund v.Z. in 1668 and his daughter Magdalene v. Kötteritz, née v. Zehmen, in 1690. Her husband was the Canon of Merseburg and Electoral Privy Councillor and Vice-Chancellor Wolff Siegfried von Kötteritz. Around 1715, he had the castle built, and in 1717, the new church building was erected on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Reformation. Under his patronage, he had the church built in its present Baroque form at his own expense. Further owners of the manor were Christoph Friedrich von Pflugk in 1719 (as church patron, he arranged for the installation of the finely designed stucco ceiling in the church), the Baumann family in 1754, and from 1891 until their expropriation and expulsion by the communists in 1945, Alexander Pagenstecher. After 1945, the castle served as a school, and later also as a municipal office.