 ballenstedt is a town in the harz district, in the german state of saxony-anhalt. it is situated at the northern rim of the harz mountain range, about 10&nbsp;km (6&nbsp;mi) southeast of quedlinburg. the municipality includes the villages of rieder, badeborn and opperode. the tourist route, the romanesque road, leads through ballenstedt. ==history== ballenstedt was first mentioned in a 1030 deed, issued by count esico of ballenstedt, son of one count adalbert, who held the office of a vogt of nienburg abbey, and hidda, a daughter of margrave odo i of the saxon ostmark. esico (~1000-1059/60), whose sister uta married margrave eckard ii of meissen is considered the progenitor of the house of ascania. he had a collegiate church erected in ballenstedt, that was dedicated to saints pancras and abundius in the presence of emperor henry iii in 1046. esico's son count adalbert ii granted ballenstedt to nienburg abbey in 1073. his descendant albert the bear, first ruler of the margraviate of brandenburg, established a benedictine monastery at the site and was buried at the crypt of the abbey church in 1070. a monument for albert is located in the town's park. severely damaged during the german peasants' war, the monastery was secularised in 1525 by the ascanian prince wolfgang von anhalt-kÃ¶then in course of the protestant reformation. wolfgang chose ballenstedt as a residence and granted it town privileges in 1543. as a supporter of protestant king christian iv of denmark during the thirty years' war, ballenstedt was raided and plundered by the troops of albrecht von wallenstein in 1626. thumb|left|ballenstedt castle, about 1837 after the war, the town and the castle were rebuilt as the summer residence of the ascanian princes of anhalt-bernburg. in 1765 prince frederick albert completely moved his residence from bernburg to ballenstedt and induced a 
Ballenstedt Harz_(district) Towns_in_Saxony-Anhalt Towns_in_the_Harz