Ballenstedt - Palace

(Local Name: Schloss) The Ballenstedt Schloss is a Baroque ducal palace. The palace occupies the site of a religious house founded in the 11th C which became a Benedictine abbey in 1123 and was converted into a residence for the Princes of Anhalt in the 16th and 17th centuries. Of the monastic church there remain the west end and part of the crypt, now incorporated in the north wing of the palace, and there are also remains of the Romanesque conventual buildings in the west wing. In the south wing is the Roman Room, with an 18th C wall covering of painted linen depicting Roman ruins.