Neues Schloss

The Neues Schloss is a Renaissance fortress ruin near Braunschwende in the Harz mountains of Saxony-Anhalt. It stands on a high plateau between the valleys of the Eine brook and the Wipper river, close to the junction of the B242 and the road to Wippra. The site covers about 200 by 230 metres, with the remains of planned ditches and ramparts still visible. The castle was begun in 1546 by Count Albrecht VII of Mansfeld to protect his lands and the nearby Mansfeld fortress from western attacks. The reformer Martin Luther came from the county, and the count supported his teachings. In 1547 imperial troops seized the half-built site before moving on to besiege Mansfeld. After the attack the project was abandoned and the ruins were forgotten for centuries. Today only the earthworks survive, forming a large trapezium in the landscape. The centre is used as a builders’ yard, but the outline of the intended 100-metre-square Renaissance palace with four corner bastions can still be traced. Archaeologists including Julius Schmidt, the Grimms, Höfer and Schuchhardt, and later teams in the 2000s, have studied the remains. The site offers a quiet place to walk among the old defences and imagine the ambitious project that never reached completion.