Beningaburg Dornum, Medieval castle in Dornum, Germany

Beningaburg is a medieval fortified house in the center of Dornum, in northern Germany, set on a small island formed by a water-filled moat. The building combines living quarters with defensive features, and old trees grow along the outer banks of the moat.

Around 1400 Dornum had three chieftain castles: the Westerburg, Norderburg and Osterburg, the later Beningaburg. Legend credits olde Hero Attena with building the water castle between 1375 and 1380; in 1461 Tanne Kankena ceded his Wittmund castle and received the Osterburg as compensation. Folkmar II Beninga secured the Beninga line there, which shaped the castle until 1717, when Folkmar Eger Beninga died; the name Beningaburg dates from this period. The east wing, destroyed in 1547, was rebuilt in 1567, and the south wing renewed in 1669 under Boyung Beninga.

The Beninga line held the castle from 1545 until Folkmar Eger Beninga died in 1717, the last male of the Dornum branch; the street outside is still called Beningalohne. In the castle's Ahnensaal, painted portraits trace the family's succession. The gatehouse bears a joint coat of arms of Beninga and Ehrentreuter, carved when Boyung Beninga renewed the south wing in 1669.

The castle is privately owned and can only be visited on guided tours, so it is worth checking availability before you go. From outside, the building and the moat are clearly visible from the surrounding path, making a walk around the exterior a good option on any visit.

The gatehouse, two storeys high with a round arch, was built in 1567 by the knight Folkmar Beninga; of the original three wings of the Osterburg, only two remain. Above the door is a joint coat of arms of Beninga and Ehrentreuter from the 1669 renewal of the south wing. Portraits of the Beninga lineage hang in the castle's ancestral hall.