Thuringia
Art, History & Archaeology Sites & Museums
Archaeology & History Sites in Thuringia
Hanstein Castle, Bornhagen
Considered one of the most beautiful ruined castles in central Germany, Hanstein Castle certainly makes for a picturesque silhouette among timber-framed buildings. First mention of the castle dates to 1070, noting its destruction. Given its strategic value, the castle was rebuilt and damaged several times in its history. As it was close to the border between East and West Germany, the CDR took control of the ruins and the towers used as a border watch tower. No visitors were allowed until after Reunification. A popular medieval festival takes place at the castle every year on the first weekend of August.

Mödlareuth Memorial & Museum
In the early 1950s the rural medieval village of Mödlareuth became known as ‘Little Berlin’. Like the city, the village was physically divided in 1952, at first by a wooden fence, then later by the same concrete barrier system that divided the two German states. Mödlareuth lies on the border between Thuringia (then in the Soviet Occupation Zone) and Bavaria (American Occupation Zone), hence the partition of the village into East and West Germany, where social and familial ties were forcibly broken. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, residents bulldozed most of the dividing wall, but a section was retained and is now a memorial and a museum recounts this period of the village’s history.
