Burg Süpplingenburg

The Burg Süpplingenburg once stood on an island in the Schunter river between Königslutter and Helmstedt. Built in the 10th century, it became the ancestral seat of Lothar III, who ruled as Duke of Saxony before becoming Holy Roman Emperor. Today only the St Johannis Church remains above ground, though excavations in 1964 revealed buried foundations of the square 70-metre ring wall and its water-filled moat. The site’s importance lies in its role as a key fortress along the Schunter trade route. Lothar’s father, Count Gebhard of Haldensleben, owned the castle before it passed to his son, who later turned it into a canonry. The Templars took control in the 13th century, followed by the Johanniter Order until 1820. After a fire in 1615 destroyed the archives, the remaining buildings were demolished in the 19th century, leaving the church as the last visible trace. Visitors find the Romanesque St Johannis Church standing at the centre of a rectangular courtyard formed by 19th-century farm buildings. Inside, 1967 excavations uncovered medieval coins and Gothic architectural fragments. The church itself, restored between 1838 and 1843, serves as a parish church and a stop on the Romanesque Road. Nearby, the flat meadows of the Schunter valley still show slight rises where the moat once ran.