Burg Friedeburg, Medieval château in Gerbstedt, Germany

Schloss Friedeburg stands about 35 metres above the Aue near the Saale on a hilltop site. Its main building faces south toward the slope of the Schlossberg: two storeys, unrendered, with two projecting bays carrying terraces and plain rectangular windows under a tiled roof. Further buildings and parts of buildings enclose an inner and an outer courtyard on a roughly triangular plan.

Friedeburg was first documented before 1189, when Ulrich von Polleben acquired it through marriage; several generations of the Mansfeld line lived at "Vredeberg". In 1280 the Bishop of Halberstadt enfeoffed the lords of Hadmersleben, later called counts of Friedeberg. In 1442 the Mansfeld counts bought the lordship for 14,000 Schock Meissen money, and in 1443 Henning Strobart of Halle took the castle by force. In 1630 Magdeburg troops plundered it, and it stood empty in 1642.

The counts of Mansfeld held Friedeburg until 1780, and from 1595 the Mansfeld-Vorderort-Bornstedt line owned castle and estate. The poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock spent childhood years here from 1732 to 1736, when his father and uncle held the lease; the castle stayed the seat of the estate tenants until after the Second World War.

The castle stands about 35 metres above the Aue, close to the Saale, in the Friedeburg district of Gerbstedt. The main building faces south towards the slope of the Schlossberg; further buildings are grouped around an inner and an outer courtyard on a roughly triangular plan. The grounds are privately owned since the sale after 1990, so access is not guaranteed.

The counts of Mansfeld held Friedeburg until 1780, pledging it in the 16th and 17th centuries to families such as the Pentz and Alvensleben. From 1595 the Mansfeld-Vorderort-Bornstedt line owned the castle. The poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock spent childhood years here from 1732 to 1736, when his father and uncle held the lease.