Burgruine Scharzfels

The imposing Scharzfels Castle once stood enthroned on a dolomite rock in the Harz Mountains near the present-day village of Barbis and was considered an impregnable fortress for over 600 years. As a modern adventurer, you can reach the Scharzfels castle ruins via the karst hiking trail on a twenty-minute walk through shady woodland.

"It was a stormy, dark autumn night in 1118" when the chief mining captain Wilhelm von der Helden took his newlywed Emma von Eichenstein to his castle in Scharzfeld. What Wilhelm Raible wrote in the late 19th century in his "Historie des Ritters Wilhelm von der Helden auf Burg Scharzfeld" brings the world of the Middle Ages to life before your very eyes. Knight Wilhelm is probably fictional. But the famous escape of Eleonore von dem Knesebeck in 1697 actually happened. Just 67 years later, in 1761, French conquerors blew up the impregnable fortress during the Seven Years' War to form today's Scharzfels castle ruins.

Adventures in the Scharzfels castle ruins in the Harz Mountains

If you are travelling by car, park your vehicle in the Großer Andreasbach car park. Walk from Bad Lauterberg railway station when the train drops you off at the Scharzfels castle ruins on your adventure. You can breathe in the history right at the foot of the ancient walls. You will find traces of Schandenburg Castle, of which a square plateau still bears witness today. It is possible that a blide, a precise medieval slingshot, once stood on the siege redoubt.

At the Scharzfels castle ruins, it is worth taking a walk around the rock. Climbing enthusiasts will find small routes with pre-installed pitons or boreholes. Hikers will discover stamp point no. 151 of a total of 222 on the Harz hiking pin at Scharzfels Castle. However, things get even more adventurous in the grounds of the Scharzfels castle ruins themselves.

On the eagle's nest of the Scharzfels castle ruins

The Scharzfels Castle Ruins Working Group has initiated the digital resurrection of the old fortress. Since 2018, visitors have been able to experience the castle as it once looked using a 3D model. The lower castle still nestles into the rock today, even though nothing is left of it apart from a well house. The existing caves in the rock, measuring 20 by 60 metres, were once used as dungeons and storerooms. The famous access staircase to the upper castle, which barely exists anymore, was only built in the 19th century.

If you are hungry and thirsty after exploring the informative information boards and the remains of the once imposing Scharzfels castle ruins in the Harz Mountains, the excursion restaurant awaits you in the cosy pub or on the terrace.