Sababurg

Sababurg
(Sleeping Beauty Castle)
Zappenburg, Zapfenburg, Dornröschenschloss
Sababurg, town of Hofgeismar
Sababurg and the Reinhardswald from the southwest
Sababurg (Sleeping Beauty Castle) is located in Hesse
Sababurg (Sleeping Beauty Castle)
Sababurg
(Sleeping Beauty Castle)
Sababurg (Sleeping Beauty Castle) is located in Germany
Sababurg (Sleeping Beauty Castle)
Sababurg
(Sleeping Beauty Castle)
Coordinates51°32′37″N 9°32′15″E / 51.54361°N 9.53750°E / 51.54361; 9.53750
Typehill castle
CodeDE-HE
Height315 m above sea level (NHN)
Site information
Conditionpreserved or largely preserved
Site history
Builtfrom 1334
Sababurg, copperplate by Matthäus Merian from the Topographia Hassiae 1645
Sababurg, view from the west
Entrance to the Sababurg
Location of the Sababurg on the map of the Sababurg Wildlife Park
A corner tower of the Sababurg
Sababurg

The Sababurg, first called the Zappenburg, then Zapfenburg and today, after the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Sleeping Beauty Castle (German: Dornröschenschloss), is the ruin of a hill castle in the legendary Reinhardswald, a forested upland that runs through the North Hessian county of Kassel. Sababurg is also the name of a district of the town of Hofgeismar in which the castle is found.

The hill castle appears in 1334 as the Zappenburg[1] to protect pilgrims to the nearby pilgrimage site of Gottsbüren. In 1490, the hunting lodge of Zapfenburg grew out of the medieval castle site.[1] After 1957[1] the site was restored and since 1959[1] it has housed an hotel. Together with the Trendelburg and Krukenburg the present ruins belong to the three best known castles in the Reinhardswald region, although the latter is just outside this forest.[2] In the surrounding area is the Sababurg Wildlife Park and the virgin forest of Urwald Sababurg. The concept for the board game, Enchanted Forest, was developed from the castle.

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Sababurg was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference 3BT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).