Schloss Saathain

Saathain Castle stands on the left bank of the Black Elster River in the Brandenburg village of Saathain. The remains of the historic structure were reduced to foundation walls after a fire in April 1945. A terrace built on these walls once held a café, now closed. The surrounding park has been turned into a rose garden with over seventy species of roses and around five thousand bushes. A stretch of floodplain forest on the opposite side of the road preserves part of the old Black Elster floodplain. This area is known for its large numbers of protected wood anemones.

The castle was first recorded in 1140 as a fortification securing the river crossing where the Große Röder meets the Black Elster. It guarded trade and military routes along the river and belonged to the Naumburg monastery’s imperial fief until the mid-14th century. The von Köckritz family lived here from 1348, followed by the Schleinitze family until 1716. Woldemar Freiherr von Löwendal acquired the estate in 1708 and later passed it to his wife, who sold it in 1748. The manor church, built in 1629 and rebuilt in 1816, is now a protected historic building.

Visitors find the rose garden planted in 1972, a quiet floodplain forest across the road, and the half-timbered manor church restored after years of decay. The church hosts concerts, exhibitions, and wedding ceremonies. A granite boulder in the park commemorates the village’s history and the Röderwald forest. Nearby stands a memorial to Wolfgang Bastian, the pastor who saved the church in the 1930s. The ruins and terrace mark the site of the old castle, now open to walkers and visitors.