DORNBURG

dornburg, a town of germany, in the grand-duchy of saxe-weimar, romantically situated on a hill 400 ft. above the saale, on the railway grossheringen-jena and 7 m. n.e. of the latter. pop. 700. dornburg is an ancient town, but is chiefly famous for its three grand-ducal castles. of these, the altes schloss is built on the site of an imperial stronghold (kaiserpfalz), once a bulwark against the slavs, often a residence of the emperors otto ii. and otto iii., and where the emperor henry ii. held a diet in 1005; the neues schloss in italian style of architecture, built 1728-1748, with pretty gardens. here goethe was often a guest, "healing the blows of fate and the wounds of the heart in dornburg." the third and southernmost of the three is the so-called stohmannsches rittergut, purchased in 1824 and fitted as a modern palace.