High above the small wine-growing town of Freyburg lies the Neuenburg, founded around 1090 by the Thuringian Count Ludwig the Springer, the sister castle of the Wartburg. By 1150, the first powerful complex had been built. With the rise of the landgraves of Thuringia, further magnificent expansion took place. By 1230, the Neuenburg was already about three times as large as the Wartburg! The Romanesque double chapel built around 1170/75 is still an architectural gem today. Around 1185, Heinrich von Veldeke was commissioned by Hermann I to complete the "Eneasroman", the first ever Middle High German chivalric courtly verse epic. This makes Neuenburg Castle one of the most important "literary sites" in Germany. Neuenburg Castle experienced the end of its high medieval heyday under Landgrave Ludwig IV and his wife, St. Elisabeth. After the Ludovingians died out in 1247, the castle came to the Margraves of Meissen. Conversions to a residential and hunting castle took place from the 16th to the 18th century under the Electors of Saxony and the Dukes of Saxony-Weißenfels. In 1815 the Neuenburg came into Prussian possession, and in 1935 the first museum was established. After its closure from 1970 to 1989, which threatened its existence, the castle was saved by committed citizens.

Today, Neuenburg Castle belongs to the Saxony-Anhalt Cultural Foundation. Classified as a "3-star" property, it is one of the most important architectural monuments on the "Romanesque Road".