Blankenburg

Blankenburg. (1) A town and health resort of Germany, in the duchy of Brunswick, at the N. foot of the Harz Mountains, 12 m. by rail S.W. from Halberstadt. Pop. (1901) 10,173. It has been in large part rebuilt since a fire in 1836, and possesses a castle, with various collections, a museum of antiquities, an old town hall and churches. There are pine-needle baths and a hospital for nervous diseases. Gardening is a speciality. In the vicinity is a cliff or ridge of rock called Teufelsmauer (Devil’s wall), from which fine views are obtained across the plain and into the deep gorges of the Harz Mountains.

(2) Another Blankenburg, also a health-resort, is situated in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Thuringia, at the confluence of the rivers Rinne and Schwarza, and at the entrance of the Schwarzatal. Its environs are charming, and to the north of it, on an eminence, rise the fine ruins of the castle of Greifenstein, built by the German king Henry I., and from 1275 to 1583 the seat of a cadet branch of the counts of Schwarzburg.

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