Bauernburg Ottenhausen

The Bauernburg Ottenhausen stands in the village of Ottenhausen, part of Steinheim in the Höxter district of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is a medieval refuge castle built around 1300 from roughly cut stones. The building served as a secure storehouse for food and a shelter during wars for local people. The structure has two surviving floors with a simple pitched roof and walls about one metre thick. Slit windows light the interior, and the ground floor is divided into two long rooms connected by an opening. The upper floor holds a single large chamber. In the 17th century a cavalry officer named Johann Braun bought the tower and made it his home. Today the Heimatverein Ottenhausen runs the site. The upper floor houses a small local museum opened in 1989, while the cellar contains an escape room themed on escape and flight. The association also organises the building’s upkeep and modernisation. Visitors can explore the stone refuge, view displays on flight and history, and try the escape room experience.