Lehesten Castle

Lehesten Castle was owned by the Burgraves of Kirchberg and was enfeoffed to the Lords of Isserstedt in the 12th century. Individual representatives of this family called themselves Lords of Lehesten since the year 1200. From the end of the 13th century, this branch of the family developed independently and was resident in Jena as gentry from the 14th to the 16th century. During the Kirchberg Feud, the castle was captured in May 1304 by landgravial troops with the help of heavy siege equipment and was probably completely destroyed. A few years later, the Burgraves had to cede Lehesten to the Thuringian Landgraves. Subsequently, a branch of the Meldingen family was enfeoffed with the castle, rebuilt it, and inhabited it until about 1506. A year later, the Saxon Duke George the Bearded sold the castle and the village of Lehesten to the Teutonic Order. Thereupon, the Lehesten Commandery of the Order was established to administer the villages of Lehesten, Altengönna, and Rödigen. In 1809, the castle and commandery returned to the Kingdom of Saxony and in 1815 to the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. During this time, the castle complex developed into an agricultural chamber or state estate. Only in 1998 did it become private property again.

The castle complex was probably originally laid out rectangularly, but was heavily reshaped by its destruction and several reconstruction measures in the 16th and 19th centuries. Even the water-filled moat is only preserved in fragments. The oldest part of the building is the 27-meter-high keep.