Buttenturm

Obermarsberg stands on a flat-topped hill 398 metres above sea level in the Hochsauerlandkreis. The plateau is about one kilometre long and half a kilometre wide, dropping steeply on three sides. Only to the south a gentle saddle allows easy access. The Diemel river flows past the western slope, while the Glinde joins it below the northern cliffs. The hill was first settled in the Old Stone Age, and later fortified in the Iron Age. In the 8th century Charlemagne captured the Saxon stronghold called Eresburg and built a church under Abbot Sturmius. A stone basilica followed, said to have been consecrated by Pope Leo III in 799. The Carolingian monastery became a Corvey priory that lasted until 1803. Visitors walk along the old town walls and towers that still crown the plateau. The Romanesque Stiftskirche St. Petrus und Paulus, one of the earliest churches in Westphalia, stands near the former monastery precinct. Below the hill the valley settlement of Niedermarsberg preserves the later town plan, while Obermarsberg keeps its medieval silhouette against the skyline.