Mühlburg

The Mühlburg stands on a 375-metre ridge above the village of Mühlberg in central Thüringen. It is the oldest of the Drei Gleichen castles and the oldest surviving building in the region. The first record of the site comes from a 704 charter in which Duke Hedan II of Thüringen gave the Castello Mulenberge to Bishop Willibrord. The present stone fortress replaced an earlier wooden stronghold whose exact location remains uncertain. The castle’s strategic position let it control the Copper Road, a medieval trade route linking Erfurt to the south. The Mühlburg changed hands many times: in 1000 it passed to the Counts of Orlamünde, in 1130 to Mainz cathedral, and in 1590 to Saxe-Weimar. In 1521 Hermann von Hoff, the castle captain, accompanied Martin Luther to the Diet of Worms. The tower was raised in 1903–07 and now serves as an observation platform. Excavations in the 1930s uncovered the foundations of the medieval chapel of St Radegundis, though later demolition left only the lowest walls. Visitors cross a wooden bridge over the deep neck ditch and pass the outer defences to reach the inner ward. The massive bergfried rises 22 metres above the rock-cut foundations, its walls 2.7 metres thick. Inside the small museum displays medieval pottery and household items. From the tower’s viewing platform the other two Drei Gleichen castles are visible. A seasonal open-air cinema and a village post box share the courtyard with a working well.