Kyffhausen Castle

[d] The ruins of the imperial castle of Kyffhausen are located on the northeastern rim of the range on a hill, the Kyffhäuserburgberg (439.7 m above sea level (NN)[1]), an approximately 800 m (2,600 ft) long eastern spur.

A first castle high above the Tilleda Kaiserpfalz was probably erected under the rule of the Salian emperor Henry IV, in order to protect his royal domains south of the Harz mountains.

The rebuilt castle complex of bright red sandstone then spread over large parts of the Kyffhäuserberg ridge; administrated by Hohenstaufen ministeriales, it was meant as an expression of imperial power in the region.

From the time of Weimar Classicism in the late 18th century, even more in the Romantic era, the picturesque castle ruins became a popular destination for writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who wandered in the Kyffhäuser range together with Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar in 1776.

The legend of Frederick Barbarossa asleep in the mountain, perpetuated by Friedrich Rückert in an 1817 poem, became a symbol of rising German nationalism, illustrated by regular meetings of Burschenschaft fraternities and finally by the erection of the Kyffhäuser Monument from 1890 onwards.