The castle complex was built in 1334 by the diocese of Mainz. The reason for this was the protection of the pilgrimage site of Gottsbüren and the lands of the diocese of Mainz. The Zappenburg was located in the border area with the County of Hesse, the Duchy of Brunswick and the Diocese of Paderborn. After only 10 years, however, Mainz lost the castle and Hesse and Paderborn shared ownership, but let the castle fall into disrepair. Finally, in 1490, Count Wilhelm I built his Zapfenburg hunting lodge and horse farm on the foundations. In the Thirty Years' War, Tilly took the Sababurg and his Catholic soldiers devastated the castle. After the end of the war, the damage was repaired, but Landgrave Carl moved the stud farm to Beberbeck while he was still alive and gave up the Sababurg. Large parts of the castle were soon demolished and only the north wing remained, which housed a hotel. The Sababurg, owned by the state of Hesse, will be restored by 2026.
In addition to the real history of the Sababurg, this is also regarded as the Sleeping Beauty Castle:
Jacob Grimm wrote the fairy tale The Sleeping Beauty in 1810. It was handed down to him by Marie Hassenpflug, who remembered a fairy tale from her childhood. This fairy tale was "The Sleeping Beauty in the Forest" by French writer Charles Perrault. In fact, his story also has Italian roots, as well as motifs that go back to the Edda and the Nibelungen saga. Since Marie Hassenpflug was only able to hand down the fairy tale in very fragmentary form, Jacob Grimm's version was largely transferred to the Hessian story. After the count surrounded his stud farm with a 5 km long wall, it became overgrown with a thorn hedge, which from then on protected the castle from intruders. The eventful history of the Sababurg, most recently the severe devastation caused by Count Tilly, ensured that the castle fell into a slumber again and again. Jacob Grimm is said to have had that place in mind when he neatly wrote down the Sleeping Beauty.
Unfortunately, the gate to the castle is not always open. The inner courtyard can only be visited at certain times.