Stamping station 187 / Lauenburg

The Lauenburg castle ruins were a two-part hilltop castle and are located on the castle hill above Stecklenberg.

The cast­le com­plex was first men­tio­ned in a docu­ment in 1164 and was pro­ba­b­ly built over a peri­od of ten years. It con­sists of the approx. 200 m long „Gre­at Lau­en­burg“ and the approx. 50 m long „Small Lau­en­burg“, which is to be regard­ed as the outer bai­ley. It was once the lar­gest cast­le com­plex in the Harz regi­on, a Sali­an impe­ri­al cast­le which, like the Harz­burg, was pro­ba­b­ly built under HEINRICH IV (1050–1106). In 1165 it went to HEINRICH THE LION, who had to hand it back to Bar­ba­ros­sa in 1180. In 1267, it was taken over by the Mar­gra­ve of Bran­den­burg and given as a fief to the Counts of Regen­stein until it was final­ly con­que­r­ed and res­to­red under the Bishop of Hal­ber­stadt, ALBRECHT III (1366–1390). After its later use as a quar­ry, it fell into Prus­si­an sta­te owner­ship in 1897. 

From the obser­va­ti­on tower of the outer bai­ley, you have a beau­tiful view of the Devil’s Wall near Wed­ders­le­ben and the Harz for­eland. The stamp box is loca­ted next to the infor­ma­ti­on board below the outer bailey. 

The qui­ckest way to reach Lau­en­burg Cast­le is to fol­low the sign­pos­ted path from the cen­ter of Steck­len­berg via Steck­len­burg Castle.