Wohldenberg Castle

Holle, Germany, Germany

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Wohldenberg Castle is a medieval hilltop ruin near Sillium in Holle, Lower Saxony, Germany, built between 1153 and 1160 by the Counts of Wöltingerode on a site once dedicated to the pagan god Wodan.

Positioned at 218 meters above the Nette Valley to guard trade routes, it included an outer and inner bailey, thick defensive walls, a 32-meter-high keep now topped with a viewing platform, and a chapel later replaced by the Baroque St. Hubertus Church in 1731.

Destroyed by Henry the Lion in 1180, rebuilt, and changing hands over centuries—including use by robber knights and damage in the Thirty Years' War—it was largely dismantled by 1800, restored from 1858 as a popular hiking spot with panoramic views toward the Harz Mountains.