page_title: Regenstein Castle
section_title: Prussian fort
hierarchical_section_title: Regenstein Castle / Prussian fort
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Die Burg Regenstein mit dem Ort Heimburg im Vordergrund, gesehen von den Ziegenbergen; Blankenburg in Sachsen-Anhalt
context_page_description: Regenstein Castle is a ruined castle that lies three kilometres north of Blankenburg in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. It is a popular tourist destination where, each year, a knight's tournament and a garrison festival are held.
  Of this once relatively impregnable castle, which was built in the early and high Middle Ages on a 294 metre high sandstone rock towering over the surrounding area, only ruins are visible today. Several internal rooms, carved into the rock, have survived, as have the ruins of the keep. The castle is surrounded by remnants of a more recent fortress.
  Regenstein Castle is No. 80 in the system of checkpoints on the Harzer Wandernadel hiking trail network.
  Below the castle is the site of the old Regenstein Mill that used to supply it with water.
context_section_description: From 1671 the medieval castle was expanded into a fortress by the Prussians, who were the last users of its military function. The original castle occupies only a small part of the greater fortification. In 1677 the fort became a garrison. The length of its outer perimeter was extended in 1742 to 1,200 metres. Even under the French, to whom the fortress had to be handed over on 12 September 1757, it was extended structurally. The Prussians captured it five months later (12 February 1758) and rendered the position unusable. The powder magazine, which was located near the top was blown up. Of the fortress only the casemate, those facilities carved out of the rock and the (now restored) gateway remain. A characteristic of the fortress is the large number of cavernous rooms in the natural rock (one now houses an exhibition of archaeological finds from the castle site). Even the stables were hewn out of the rock. After 1758, the pastures and forests of the Regenstein went to the Prussian Amt of Westerhausen. From 1815 to 1945, following the reign of Westphalia (1807-1813, Canton Halberstadt Land), Regenstein became the smallest Prussian exclave and belonged to the district of Halberstadt. Today it is part of the town of Blankenburg.
  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the Regenstein on 11 September 1784 together with the artist, Georg Melchior Kraus, on his third trip to the Harz (8 August to 14 September 1784) to conduct geological studies (two drawings and a rock sample from Goethe's collection of rocks recall that visit). The first restaurant was opened in 1812, thus beginning the rock's role as a tourist attraction.
caption: Regenstein Castle from the crest of the Ziegenberge. In the foreground: the village of Heimburg
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