Oberschloss Kranichfeld
About This Site
A castle of around nine hundred years above the upper Ilm valley: hall, chapel and keep from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a Renaissance rebuilding from 1530, a fire in 1934 that took it down to the foundation walls — and, under the Nazi regime, a Buchenwald satellite camp on the site, whose prisoners were made to raise part of the ruin again.
Built by the lords of Kranichfeld, 12th century–1530
The castle was raised in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries by the lords of Kranichfeld, with a hall, a chapel and a keep — the standard components of a seat that had to be defensible. From 1530 it was extended into a Renaissance residence, which is the point at which most castles in this region either became comfortable or became ruins.
April 1934
A fire in April 1934 destroyed the castle down to its foundation walls.[1] Everything a visitor sees above that line is either what survived below it or what has been done since, and the nine hundred years the exhibition describes are read off a building that burned within living memory.
The satellite camp
The first attempts at rebuilding came under the Nazi regime, and the town states plainly how: a satellite camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar was set up on the Oberschloss, and under inhuman conditions the prisoners brought part of the burnt ruin to a shell-built state.[1] It is not a footnote to the castle's history. The rebuilding a visitor stands in was begun by people held here as prisoners of that camp.
What is here now, 1981–2025
Deterioration after the war was addressed from 1981 by the castle's support association, and since May 2025 the building has shown an exhibition on its roughly nine-hundred-year history.[1] There is a Whitsun festival and a Christmas market, and the castle is licensed for weddings — the ordinary uses that keep a building of this kind standing.
Questions visitors ask
- How old is the castle?
- Around nine hundred years — hall, chapel and keep from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, extended into a Renaissance residence from 1530.
- What happened in 1934?
- A fire destroyed the castle down to its foundation walls.[1] Everything a visitor sees above that line is either what survived below it or what has been done since.
- What is the connection to Buchenwald?
- A satellite camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp was set up on the Oberschloss, and under inhuman conditions its prisoners brought part of the burnt ruin to a shell-built state.[1] The rebuilding a visitor stands in was begun by people held here as prisoners of that camp.
- Can I visit?
- April to October, Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays, 10:00–17:00; closed Mondays and closed in winter (November–March). €7 full price, €4 reduced, children and pupils free.[1]
- What is there to see today?
- An exhibition on the castle's roughly nine-hundred-year history, shown since May 2025.[1] There is also a Whitsun festival, a Christmas market, and the castle is licensed for weddings.
Sources
- Oberschloss Kranichfeld — Stadt Kranichfeld, retrieved 29 August 2026
Visit Information
7 € full, 4 € reduced, children and pupils free.
April–October, Tue–Sun and public holidays 10:00–17:00; closed Mondays; winter closure November–March.
Am Oberschloss 1 a, 99448 Kranichfeld
In Weimar's history
Historical periods
The castle belongs to the period through the satellite camp on its own grounds, not through anything that happened in Weimar.
The regime wanted Weimar for what its name meant, and it built a concentration camp on the hill above the town. Both facts belong to the same twelve years.
In Weimar's history
On 24 May 1941 the SS put fifty Buchenwald prisoners into a carriage shed at Kranichfeld to rebuild a castle it had bought — and the point of the work was an insurance claim.
The satellite camp stood on this castle from 1941 to 1943, and its prisoners were the ones who raised part of the burnt ruin again.
Around Weimar
Southeast
The upper of the town's two castles, and the reason it calls itself the two-castle town.