Wernigerode

Wernigerode lies on the Holtemme at the northern foot of the Harz, beneath a castle overlooking the town. It was the seat of a county whose ruling family died out in the male line in 1429; Count Botho of Stolberg inherited the land, and his descendants ruled from Wernigerode for centuries. The Thirty Years' War damaged the castle severely. In the late seventeenth century Count Ernst of Stolberg-Wernigerode began rebuilding it as a Baroque residence. In 1714 the county came under Prussian overlordship, though its counts continued to reside here.