Warburg - Holsterburg Castle

Holsterburg Castle was probably built around 1150, first mentioned in writing in 1191 and demolished in 1294. It is located south-east of Warburg.

Holsterburg Castle is built as an octagon. This is a very rare type of construction for castles. It is the only one of its kind in Westphalia and one of only three octagonal castles in Germany. Frederick II's famous Castel del Monte was only built a few decades later.

The castle was destroyed in 1294 at the end of a lengthy conflict between the old and new towns of Warburg and the noblemen of Holthusen who lived in the castle. The alliance of townsmen from the towns of Warburg, Marsberg, Höxter, Fritzlar and other places conquered the castle, probably with the backing of the Bishop of Paderborn, and then plundered and razed it. However, the troops didn't just leave it at that. They covered the ruins of the castle with a massive mound of earth, the material from which had previously been excavated from the surrounding area, in order to literally "raze the castle to the ground" as a visible sign of its former greatness and erase it from the memory of posterity.

In doing so, however, they also unintentionally created excellent preservation conditions. This ultimately led to the mound being misinterpreted as a moth. Excavation of the castle complex began in 2010. Since then, excavation campaigns have been carried out every year.

Very good website - in German
holsterburg.com/