Mansfeld Castle, the former ancestral seat of the Counts of Mansfeld, towers high above the town. Mining has shaped the town since the Middle Ages. Copper slate for the extraction of silver and copper was dug deep from the earth here. The family of the future reformer Martin Luther also came to the town to mine.

Today, the town and Martin Luther's childhood home are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Luther Memorials. Luther spent most of his childhood here - he called Mansfeld his home for the rest of his life.

The Luder family came to Mansfeld in 1484 to become economically active in copper mining and metallurgy. The son Martin, who later called himself Luther and was born in Eisleben in 1483, attended the local Latin school in Mansfeld between 1488 and 1496. He then went to Magdeburg to attend the Latin school at the cathedral. He spent the formative years of his childhood in the mining town and regarded Mansfeld as his home town. Throughout his eventful life, Luther was always in contact by letter with relatives and citizens in Mansfeld and was thus informed about events in the town and family matters and took an active interest in what was happening in the town. A number of buildings commemorating Luther have been preserved in Mansfeld. His parents' house has been partially preserved. The town's Luther Museum was located there from the end of the 19th century until 2007. The site of the public school that Martin attended is now occupied by a building housing the town's tourist information office. Here you can obtain valuable information about the Luther family, the history of the town and the history of the county of Mansfeld.

From 2011, Luther's childhood home was renovated and a new museum was built on the site of the former "Goldener Ring" inn. The permanent exhibition in the new building, "I am a Mansfeld child", opened in 2014 and displays unique finds from the family's property that were uncovered during archaeological excavations during the road renovation.

In 1913, the town erected a monument, the Luther Fountain, to commemorate Mansfeld's great son.

In the immediate vicinity of Mansfeld, there are impressive examples of mining and industrial culture.