Wermsdorf hunting lodge

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Wermsdorf hunting lodge
The castle in 1837

The old hunting lodge Wermsdorf or Royal hunting lodge Wermsdorf is a Renaissance - hunting lodge from the 17th century in Wermsdorf in Saxony .

Arched ground floor - floor plan
patio

Building description

The castle consists of an irregular three-wing system, the facades of which are structured by numerous gables. The renaissance building stands out due to its two-storey dwelling with volute gables , a bay window with ornate sandstone work and the stair tower with Welsch dome and lantern that separates the two main gables. In the corner between the two main wings, which meet at acute angles, there is a spiral staircase similar to that in Noschkowitz Castle . The ground floor is vaulted, the upper floor has a flat ceiling.

Building history

The proximity to the Wermsdorf forests , which at that time was still called Mutzschener Heyde , prompted Elector Christian II to build a simple hunting lodge between 1609 and 1610 on the site of the old Starschedelschen manor . The previous building was demolished as early as 1608. After Christian II's death in 1611, his successor Johann Georg I had the castle modified by the Freiberg master builder Simon Hoffmann from Graupen from 1617 to 1626 in the spirit of the Renaissance. Hoffmann added the east wing and the originally shorter west wing to the north wing. The upper floor of the north wing made of half-timbering was demolished and replaced with a massive construction. The result was a stately three-wing complex that initially met the high demands of the court. In 1639, a fire that the Swedes set in the castle almost burned it down. However, the residents acted quickly and were able to put out the fire. With the period of use by the Saxon King Albert 1874–1875, the elevation of the central hall in the north wing was expanded.

Hunting frieze of Duke Johann Georg I.

The hunting frieze was painted in 1609 by the Dresden court painter Daniel Breitschneider the Elder for the old hunting lodge in Wermsdorf. It is 65 meters long and 41 centimeters high. It represents a hunting procession led by Duke Johann Georg I as Landjägermeister as well as Margrave Christian von Brandenburg, Duke Albrecht von Holstein and representatives of important Saxon noble families. In 1918 the old hunting lodge became the property of the Saxon state, which was regulated in detail in the law of 1924. The frieze was not part of the law. The entire interior of Wermsdorf Castle was transported to Moritzburg Castle as private property of the Wettins . The frieze was hung in the Electoral Waldschänke in Moritzburg. With the expropriation of the Wettins by the Soviets in 1945, this Waldschänke became a public-owned restaurant and thus the frieze became public property . In 1987 and 1990 the restaurant gave the frieze in two parts for restoration in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden . The first part was restored to the restaurant, but then came the turning point. The picture gallery kept the second part. After the fall of the Wall, the Waldschänke was privatized. The hunting frieze is open to the public and can be viewed in the Churfuerstenzimmer of the restaurant. A copy of the hunting frieze is in the hall of the Grillenburg hunting lodge in Tharandt . The National Socialist Reich Governor for Saxony and Landesjägermeister Martin Mutschmann had this made as a copy around 1936 in the course of the expansion of the Grillenburg to the Saxon Jägerhof .

Usage history

Anton Egon von Fürstenberg , governor of Saxony

The building served as an electoral hunting lodge until 1628. The turmoil of the Thirty Years' War interrupted the actual purpose. Administrative institutions (including the Mutzschen Office ) were housed in the castle from the 17th century . After 1681, the Mutzschen office had its seat in the old hunting lodge because the Mutzschen castle was burnt down in 1681, hence the name Mutzschen zu Wermsdorf office . 1685 came again for the first time a Saxon elector with Johann Georg III. for hunting in the old hunting lodge in Wermsdorf. From 1696 to 1716 the castle was in lifelong use by the governor of Saxony, Prince Anton Egon von Fürstenberg and Heiligenberg , who also died in the castle. Fürstenberg, closely linked to France, introduced the French style of par force hunting in the Wermsdorf Forest in 1699 .

After the Hubertusburg was built in 1721, the old hunting lodge lost more and more of its importance and only served as a guest house and accommodation for the servants. In the park there were gardens and four smaller ponds for holding fish. In 1873 the Royal Saxon government decided to dissolve Saxon offices at the end and Amtshauptmann teams to form. After almost 200 years in which the castle served as the seat of various administrations, the Saxon King Albert took over the castle and converted it into a hunting lodge again in 1874. The garden was turned back into a park and three ponds were filled in. To improve the water supply, Hubertusburg laid a water pipe and the linden tree, which is still visible today, was planted in the courtyard. In 1918 apartments were set up, which were given primarily to civil servants and state employees. In July 1934 a Saxon riding and driving school moved from Leisnig to Wermsdorf. The hunting lodge offered ideal conditions for this: the modern riding arena, the newly designed riding, driving and jumping arena, the riding and galloping track, as well as the ideal accommodation for guests and students and, last but not least, the ideal starting point for cross-country rides and riding hunts in the vicinity Wermsdorf Forest . Towards the end of the Second World War , refugees moved into the castle. In 1946 the castle was used as a recreation and children's home on the instructions of the state government. After 1950 it became the administrative center again. The German People's Police moved into rooms. In 1996 the Free State of Saxony renounced its ownership rights to the castle in favor of the municipality of Wermsdorf. In 1999 the castle was extensively renovated.

Royal stables

The stables still in use today in the immediate vicinity of the Royal Castle were part of the Royal Stables . This proximity of the castle and the royal stables, which is used to limit the architecture in contrast to the Corps de Logis , but is nevertheless artistically coordinated with it, is characteristic of the impending baroque style , which in the later new building of the Hubertusburg would increase to rococo .

Wermsdorf riding arena

The riding hall, which is parallel to the street, was built between 1932 and 1934. The base was made with granite porphyry from the Wermsdorf quarry. Today the hall is used by the Wermsdorf riding and driving club and the castle stud.

King Albert

From mid-October 1878 King Albert went to Wermsdorf to stay for one or more days in the old hunting lodge, which he had rebuilt for this purpose. The rooms were decorated with paintings and hunting trophies and a splendidly carved wooden ceiling was installed in the dining room. In 1918 the entire castle furnishings were brought to Moritzburg or auctioned off. Most of the rooms were used as apartments. Today the building houses the municipal administration, the tourist center and a riding stable. The Saxon king was very popular with the people of Wermsdorf, because a monument was erected in front of the old hunting lodge in 1908, which was torn down and melted down by the Soviets in 1945. On November 8, 1998, a new memorial was erected and inaugurated on the old square in front of the hunting lodge. See the article on the King Albert Monument

Prince Maximilian of Saxony (1870–1951)

Prince Max , the brother of King Albert, was exiled to Wermsdorf Castle in 1916 at the request of the Dresden Higher Regional Court (under public pressure and out of consideration for the Kaiser) because of his criticism of the German armed forces in Belgium. He was only released a week before the fall of the monarchy in 1918.

literature

  • Werner Breitenborn and Helmut Striegler: On the history of the old hunting lodge. in: Author collective: 800 years of Wermsdorf. 1206 - 2006. Sax Verlag, Beucha 2006, ISBN 3-934544-93-2 . P. 148 ff.
  • Helmuth Gröger: Wermsdorf - a hunting lodge in Electoral Saxony . In: Castles and Palaces in Saxony , Verlag Heimatwerk Sachsen, 1940, p. 99

Web links

Commons : Jagdschloss Wermsdorf  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Cornelius Gurlitt: Calbitz. in a descriptive representation of the older architectural and art monuments of the Kingdom of Saxony. Meinhold & Sons, Dresden 1905, p. 335.
  2. ↑ Old hunting lodge. Leipziger Volkszeitung, edition: Oschatzer Allgemeine, July 26, 2008, p. 6.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Werner Breitenborn and Helmut Striegler: On the history of the old hunting lodge. in: Author collective: 800 years of Wermsdorf. 1206 - 2006. Sax Verlag, Beucha 2006, ISBN 3-934544-93-2 . P. 148 ff.
  4. ↑ Eckart Säuberlich: Duke Johann Georg has a wall frieze from 1609 made (part 1). The electoral hunt. Leipziger Volkszeitung, edition: Oschatzer Allgemeine, November 20, 2007, p. 18.
  5. ↑ Eckart Säuberlich: Duke Johann Georg has a wall frieze from 1609 made (part 2). The electoral hunt. Leipziger Volkszeitung, edition: Oschatzer Allgemeine, November 27, 2007, p. 19.
  6. ↑ Werner Breitenborn: On the prehistory of our circle. (Part One). North Saxony - a historical home trip. Leipziger Volkszeitung, edition: Oschatzer Allgemeine, November 30, 2010, p. 18.
  7. ↑ no information: The Pfennig - magazine for instruction and entertainment. Brockhaus, Leipzig, 1854, ( online ), accessed April 7, 2011.
  8. ↑ Christdore Wetzig: Homeland friend Christdore Wetzig reports on the Saxon riding and driving school and the big horse show in 1939. The splendor of bygone times. Leipziger Volkszeitung, edition: Oschatzer Allgemeine, July 12, 2005, p. 18.
  9. ↑ Wolfgang Götz: German baroque stables. Art history studies. Volume 34. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich, Berlin 1964, p. 10.
  10. ↑ Lutz Abitzsch: Castle stud farm and riding school in and around the old hunting lodge. on the website of the municipality of Wermsdorf, status: 2010, ( Link ) accessed on April 8, 2010.
  11. ^ Joseph Kürschner: King Albert and Sachsenland. A commemorative publication on the 70th birthday and 25th anniversary of the reign of the monarch. Reinhold Schwarz, Berlin 1898, pp. 96 and 97, ( online ), accessed April 7, 2011.
  12. ↑ Heiko Dehn: Historical Saxony, the portal for the palaces, castles and historical ruins in the Free State of Saxony. Lengenfeld, as of 2010, ( Link ), accessed on April 7, 2011.
  13. ↑ Werner Breitenborn: Hobby chronicler Werner Breitenborn recalls a historical date: King Albert died 100 years ago. Saxon majesty is sitting in a present place in Wermsdorf. Leipziger Volkszeitung, edition: Oschatzer Allgemeine, June 18, 2002, p. 17.
  14. ^ Iso Baumer:  Max Prince of Saxony. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , pp. 513-515 ( digitized version ) .; Priest, prince and political person. Service and festival academy in memory of Max von Sachsen @ bistum-dresden-meissen.de, accessed April 27, 2019

Coordinates: 51 ° 16 ′ 59.5 ″  N , 12 ° 56 ′ 21.9 ″  E