Alte Wache, Neoclassical guardhouse in Sondershausen, Germany

The Alte Wache stands on four steps in front of a curved terrace on the market square of Sondershausen. Its portico of six Doric columns carries a triangular pediment and an architrave inscribed "GVENTHER FRIEDRICH CARL II. A. MDCCCXXXVIIII". The facade is divided into five axes by the intercolumniations, with a central door and windows on either side.

The Alte Wache was built between 1837 and 1839 to plans by Carl Scheppig, a pupil of Schinkel, for Prince Günther Friedrich Carl II of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. It replaced an earlier guard building from around 1711, when the east slope was first rearranged under Prince Christian Wilhelm. After restoration in the early 1990s it housed the town's tourist information until 2022; since 2023 it has been an ice cream café.

The building shapes the town center and shows how important classical design was to Sondershausen. Visitors see here an example of the strict, ordered forms that were popular in the 1800s.

The Alte Wache faces the market square between the palace stairway and the carriage ramp, so it is passed on foot by anyone walking up to the castle. The 70-step staircase rises to its left in seven flights, narrowing towards the top. Since 2023 the building has housed an ice cream cafe.

The sandstone for the terrace wall came from Rottleben, and the balustrade above it is made of thirty-six rectangular slabs, each split vertically and braced with cross and diagonal struts forming a circular motif. The pedestals between the slabs once carried cast-zinc vases, which are no longer in place.