Zur Pleißenburg / Leipzig

Leipzig, Germany, Germany

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Zur Pleißenburg, or Pleissenburg Castle, was a medieval fortress built around 1215 in Leipzig, Germany, by Margrave Dietrich the Bedrückted to suppress local uprisings, strategically positioned near the Pleisse River as one of three city strongholds.

Destroyed in 1547 during the Schmalkaldic War, it was rebuilt from 1549-1558 as a Renaissance triangular citadel by Mayor Hieronymus Lotter, featuring bastions, casemates, a tall tower with artillery floors, and a moat linking to city defenses.

Site of the pivotal 1519 Leipzig Disputation between Martin Luther and Catholic theologians, it later housed academies, artists like Adam Friedrich Oeser and Veit Hans Schnorr von Carolsfeld, administrative offices, and barracks until demolition from 1899-1905 for Leipzig's monumental New Town Hall, preserving only Lotter's tower base and a Pappenheim oriel window.