Kemenate Ziegenrück, kemenate in Ziegenrück, Germany

Kemenate Ziegenrück is the residential tower of the former Ziegenrück castle, standing on a rock spur above the Saale. The 15th-century building measures 17 by 13 metres and rises 20 metres, with walls 1.6 to 1.8 metres thick, a cellar and four storeys. Its unevenly spaced windows contrast with regular arrow slits beneath the roof.

The castle belonged to the imperial Saalfeld estate and was first mentioned in 1222, guarding the Saale crossing on the north–south road. It passed from the counts of Orlamünde to the Thuringian landgrave in the early 14th century, and Duke Wilhelm of Saxony pledged town and castle to Veit von Obernitz for 2,000 guilders in 1448. In 1485 it came to the Ernestine Wettins and became an administrative seat; after several fires it was partly demolished and rebuilt in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Kemenate belongs to a group of broad residential towers found along the upper Saale-Elster line, with siblings at Reinstädt and Orlamünde. Its irregularly set windows and even row of arrow slits beneath the roof show how a fortified residence was arranged. The building later served for a long time as a youth hostel.

The Kemenate stands on a rock spur north above Ziegenrück, between the Dreba and Sornitz valleys. Two of the original defensive ditches cut across the approach and are still visible. The building is not a ruin but a roofed 15th-century tower that long served as a youth hostel; its current use is undecided.

The Kemenate is one of the rare Thuringian broad residential towers, alongside those at Reinstädt and Orlamünde. Its four storeys rise 20 metres, with walls 1.6 to 1.8 metres thick and evenly spaced arrow slits beneath the roof. The round bergfried, 10 metres across, was demolished in 1775; its foundation outline is still traceable on the ground.