Saalburg-Ebersdorf

Saalburg-Ebersdorf is a town in the Saale-Orla-Kreis district, in Thuringia, Germany close to the Bavarian border. It is situated on the river Saale, 10 km southwest of Schleiz, 30 km west of Plauen and 30 km north-west of Hof.

The town is really an administrative union of two large villages (Saalburg and Ebersdorf) as well as several smaller villages in between and around them. Saalburg is situated directly on the Saale with stunning views of the river while Ebersdorf is a long-established village which was a traditional seat of the Counts von Reuss, Younger Line and the summer court of the Principality of Reuss-Gera. The palace and orangery are still at the centre of the village. Though the palace is not occupied, the orangery (along with the nearby parks and lakes) are used for events and celebrations.

The villages which make up Saalburg-Ebersdorf are congregated around a series of large lochs and dams in the Saale, including the Bleilochtalsperre. It hosts the SonneMondSterne festival, an outdoor music festival which is one of the largest in Europe and which has featured acts such as Massive Attack; David Guetta; Skrillex; The Chemical Brothers; Hot Chip; Faithless; Kraftwerk; and Underworld.

Count Heinrich XXIV was the father of Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf, maternal grandmother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Heinrich LXXII (all the Reuss men were called Heinrich, with the numbering reset at the beginning of each new century) met Lola Montez in London in the middle of 1843 and gave her a loose invitation to visit him in Ebersdorf. Her visit was not a success and she was quickly moved on again.

Erdmuthe Dorothea, Countess von Reuss-Ebersdorf (1700–1757) married Nicolaus Ludwig, Imperial Count von Zinzendorf (1700–1760) Renewer of the Moravian Church in 1722. Her family became very involved in the Moravian Church and a Moravian Settlement was started in Ebersdorf in the 1730s. The settlement was a center of education and social work in the Thuringian Forest. Today the Moravian Church operates a children's home and retreat center in the Congregation in Ebersdorf.