Schloss Quedlinburg

In 1994, the citizens' persistent resistance against an irreparable demolition of a large part of Quedlinburg's old town, which had been in effect since 1989, had paid off. The town, with its 2000 half-timbered houses from six centuries and its castle hill, was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. As a result, the majority of visitors today find their way up to the castle through these same hard-won Old Town alleys of Quedlinburg, passing through two castle gates that reward the arduous climb as a stage destination. Quedlinburg Castle is therefore not a solitaire that can be admired in the flat landscape, but a conglomerate of collegiate church, half-timbered houses and castle rooms that are inseparably linked and can be seen from afar above the town on a 30-metre-high sandstone rock.

The Schlossberg with Quedlinburg Castle is considered the nucleus of the town. Built by King Heinrich I at the beginning of the 10th century as a palace and designated as the capital of the East Franconian Empire, the castle continued to serve as the seat of the city's regents until the beginning of the 19th century.

Both the façade of Quedlinburg Castle and the ornamentation inside do not deny their northern Italian influences, although work continued on the appearance and style of the castle hill until the 1880s.

The resting place of the first German king, Henry I.

Under the choir of the adjoining Romanesque collegiate church of St Servatius is the crypt containing the tombs of the first German royal couple, Henry I and his second wife Mathilde. For more than two centuries they were to attract large numbers of pilgrims to the growing city. Anyone who wants to find out more about the history of the royal couple, the Middle Ages or the history of the city can do so in the castle museum. Here you can also see a copy of the famous "Holy Lance", the original of which is said to contain a piece of a nail from the Cross of Christ in the Vienna Hofburg. The famous Quedlinburg cathedral treasure, on the other hand, is kept and exhibited in the collegiate church of St. Servatius.