Freyburg is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt , Germany. It is part of the Verwaltungsgemeinschaft "collective municipality" Unstruttal. The town is a tourist destination, best known for its vineyards, historic town centre, superb 11th-century castle and associations with Friedrich Ludwig Jahn founder of modern gymnastics. One of the most prosperous towns in the region, Freyburg is nicknamed ' Tuscany of the North' [2] It is the headquarters of one of the world's largest wine companies.
This part of the cultural landscape is closely associated with the powerful noble family of the Ludowings, who left their mark here from onwards. As counts palatine of Electorate of Saxony and landgraves of Thuringia they belonged to the highest ranks of nobility in the High Middle Ages. Most prominent monument to their rank and ambition is the large Neuenburg Castle dating to the period between and , which is among the biggest and most remarkable castles of its time in all of Europe.
The castle was built around by the Thuringian count Ludwig der Springer, securing his territory in the east, as did its sister castle Wartburg in the west. Already in , Neuenburg Castle was the most important fortification in central Germany and remained of outstanding political and military significance until the 13th century.
The Neuenburg Castle was five times larger than Castle Wartburg and was built in the same style, with the latter being known as the most quintessential German castle due to its associations with Martin Luther and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , and its role in the origination of the modern German flag. By the 13th century, the Neuenburg came under the control of members of the house of Wettin now the royal family of England.
Freyburg, thus, was part of the Electorate of Saxony until it was annexed by Prussia in the 19th century. Not surprisingly, Freyburg has been a strategic military prize throughout history and has been attacked by the Swedish army in the 17th century and the French army in the 19th century under Napoleon.
