Osterburg Castle

The Osterburg is unmissable, situated on a hill in the center of the city of Weida in the Thuringian district of Greiz.

The hilltop castle was built by Heinrich I, a brother of the founder of Weida Vogt Erkenbert II, between 1163 and 1193 as a Romanesque fortification in a strategically favorable hillside location and was the ancestral seat of the Vögte of Weida until the beginning of the 15th century. Initially, it was called "Das feste Haus zu Weida" (The Strong House of Weida). Since the 17th century, the castle has been called Osterburg. The name is derived from the Latin "Neuostland" (New East Land). Areas of East Thuringia are still referred to today as "Osterland" or "Ostland".

During the Peasants' War, the castle served as a prison. The Wettins rebuilt and remodeled the castle repeatedly, also as a result of the Schmalkaldic War and the Thirty Years' War. In 1785, the two main houses were connected by the connecting building "Röhrwasserhaus" (Pipe Water House) above the gate entrance. This gave the Osterburg essentially its present form. From 1813 to 1815, the castle housed a military hospital, and from 1818 it was the seat of the district court. Towards the end of the Second World War, the keep was damaged by shelling from US troops.