Saaleck is a village in the former municipality of

Bad Kösen Bad Kösen () is a spa town on the Saale river in the small wine-growing region of Saale-Unstrut, Germany. It is a former municipality in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt. Bad Kösen has a population of around 5,300. Since 1 Januar ...

, since 2010 part of the town of

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

in the district of

Burgenlandkreis Burgenlandkreis () is a district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Its area is . History The district was established as Landkreis Burgenland by the merger of the former Burgenlandkreis and Landkreis Weißenfels as part of the reform of 2007. ...

in the German state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

. The castles Saaleck and Rudelsburg next to the village have been proposed by Germany for inscription in the List of

World Heritage World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. The World Heritage nomination

Naumburg Cathedral and the High Medieval Cultural Landscape of the Rivers Saale and Unstrut Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. ...

is representative for the processes that shaped the continent during the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

between 1000 and 1300:

Christianization Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...

, the so-called “

Landesausbau Landesausbau describes medieval settlement and cultivation processes in regions of Western Europe that were previously only sparsely populated or uninhabitable. By means of clearing of woods and drainage of wetlands, new agricultural areas and new ...

” and the dynamics of cultural exchange and transfer characteristic for this very period.

Location

The village of Saaleck lies about 4 kilometres west (and upstream) of

. The village is managed by the town

, some 14 kilometres away, and has a population of roughly 300. Above the village is

Saaleck Castle Saaleck Castle () is a hill castle near Bad Kösen, now a part of Naumburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It was constructed in the 12th century. For details, see among Saaleck (Naumburg) Saaleck town history. In 1922, two of the men who had killed ...

and the castle of

Rudelsburg The Rudelsburg is a ruined hill castle located on the east bank of the river Saale above Saaleck, a village in the borough of Naumburg in the county of Burgenlandkreis in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The Rudelsburg was built in the Middle Ages by th ...

. The

River Saale The Saale (), also known as the Saxon Saale ( ) and Thuringian Saale (), is a river in Germany and a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. It is not to be confused with the smaller Franconian Saale, a right-bank tributary of the Main, or the Saale ...

flows past the settlement and gives its name to the village because, at this point in the Saale valley, it turns a corner (''Ecke''). Saaleck is surrounded by rocky slopes about 80 metres high. The castles Saaleck and Rudelsburg are situated in

at the heart of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

History

The

castles A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble. This i ...

of Rudelsburg and Saaleck are situated in the immediate vicinity with each other. These castles were built to secure the assets within the territory. Rudelsburg castle was owned by the bishops of Naumburg while Saaleck castle was founded by the Schenken von Saaleck, a noble family dependent on the Landgraves of Thuringia. By directly facing each other, the castles of Saaleck and Rudelsburg are symbols of the rivalry among the regional competing powers in the

. Both castles served as strategic outposts above the nearby fords to collect

taxes A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...

and rights along the

Via Regia The Via Regia (Royal Highway) is a European Cultural Route following the route of the Historic roads, historic road of the Middle Ages. There were many such ''viae regiae'' associated with the king in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. History ...

and the main trade routes that added to the wealth of the region in the

12th century The 12th century is the period from 1101 to 1200 in accordance with the Julian calendar. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages and overlaps with what is often called the Golden Age' of the ...

Rudelsburg

Rudelsburg Castle was constructed around 1170 during the term of Bishop Udo II of Naumburg (1161 – 1186). In 1238, Bishop Engelhard (1206 – 1242) gave the castle (castrum et oppidum) to Margrave Henry of Meissen (1221 – 1288) as a fief. It marked the border of the realm of the Naumburg bishops. Rudelsburg Castle is a two-part complex comprising a small inner bailey in the west and a large-area outer bailey stretching over the entire

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

. Directly behind the gate there is a square-shaped Romanesque castle keep. This type of castle keep is rarely to be found. The square-shaped castle keep from the

with battlements measures 20 metres and is the symbol of the castle, which can be seen from afar.

Saaleck

The ruins of Saaleck Castle rest on a low tongue of a range of hills about 65 metres above the Saale River, which is flowing around three of its sides. The surviving structures suggest that the castle was erected in the late

12th Twelfth can mean: *The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution *The Twelfth, a Protestant celebration originating in Ireland In mathematics: * 12th, an ordinal number; as in the item in an order twelve places from the beginning, follo ...

and early

13th century The 13th century was the century which lasted from January 1, 1201 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCI) through December 31, 1300 (MCCC) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan, which stretched ...

. The small, two-part castle complex was limited in size also by the natural characteristics of the terrain. It used to be composed of an upper castle (inner bailey) and a lower castle (outer bailey). Local shell limestone was used as building material.

Today

The silhouette of the castles Saaleck and Rudelsburg in very short distance to another has become one of the most prominent emblems of the reception of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

since the period of

Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

References

Notes

External links

Video of the cultural landscape of Naumburg
{{Authority control Burgenlandkreis Former municipalities in Saxony-Anhalt Naumburg (Saale) 1147 establishments