The Wartburg is a castle situated on a 1230-foot (410 m) precipice to the southwest of, and overlooking the town of Eisenach

Eisenach

Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...

, in the state of Thuringia

Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. In 1999 UNESCO

UNESCO

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...

 added Wartburg Castle to the World Heritage List as an "Outstanding Monument of the Feudal Period

Feudalism

Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...

 in Central Europe

Central Europe

Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

", citing its "Cultural Values of Universal Significance".
The castle's foundation was laid about 1068 by the Thuringian count

Graf

Graf is a historical German noble title equal in rank to a count or a British earl...

 of Schauenburg

Friedrichroda

Friedrichroda is a town in the district of Gotha, Thuringia, Germany. It is situated at the north foot of the Thuringian Forest, 21 km by rail southwest of the town of Gotha. It is surrounded by fir-clad hills and possesses numerous handsome villa residences, a Kurhaus and a sanatorium...

, Ludwig der Springer, a relative of the Counts of Rieneck

County of Rieneck

The County of Rieneck was a comital domain within the Holy Roman Empire that lay in what is now northwestern Bavaria...

 in Franconia

Franconia

Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...

.