Grüningen Castle

Grüningen Castle, located in the Grüningen district of the town of Greußen in the Kyffhäuser district of Thuringia, became particularly well-known because the early Romantic writer Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg) met his later fiancée Sophie von Kühn there in 1794, whose memory he preserved in many of his works after her early death in 1797. Embedded in the wall of St. Peter's Church in Grüningen is a medallion with a small picture of Sophie and the text: "On this churchyard rests Sophie von Kühn, born March 17, 1782, died March 19, 1797 at Grüningen Castle. The bride of the poet Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis)." The grave itself can no longer be found.

The castle stands on a south-sloping terrain on the eastern edge of the village, surrounded on two sides by the Schwarzburger Helbe river. The predecessor castle at the same location, from which earthworks, a moat, and some wall remnants still originate, was first mentioned in 1198. It was probably built by the Lords of Grüningen, from whose lineage also came Dietrich von Grüningen, a later Deutschmeister of the Teutonic Order. The building was extended in the first half of the 16th century and practically rebuilt in 1772 as a two-story plastered building with a mansard roof. In 1903, an annex with a bay window was added.

Around 1900, the Nette family took over the castle and the knight's estate. They were dispossessed in 1945 and moved to West Germany. However, the couple was buried in the Grüningen churchyard during the GDR era. After the war, an old people's and nursing home was established in Grüningen Castle. Today, after fundamental renovation in 1998/99 and now in very good structural condition, it is used as the "Schloss Sophie von Kühn" nursing home by the Novalis Diakonie Society. In addition to events of the Novalis Society, literary evenings and concerts also take place in the castle.