Annaburg Castle
The Anna Castle was build in the 16th century Renaissance castle in Annaburg ( Sachsen-Anhalt ) and hunting lodge was the Elector of Saxony .
history
Elector Friedrich III. von Sachsen, known as the Wise , had the castle built on the site of an older castle under the name Lochau and used it as a hunting lodge and villa-like refuge with a lavish garden from around 1500 . With these functions, the complex complemented the nearby residential palace in Torgau . Friedrich died in Lochau in 1525. Elector August I of Saxony had the castle of Friedrich the Wise demolished in 1571, in order to build a building planned as a residence and hunting castle as well as a widow's residence for his wife Anna from 1572 to 1575 . The material for the new building was partly obtained from the demolished Schweinitz and Löben castles . The complex is considered to be one of the main works of palace architecture of the Saxon Renaissance . During the Thirty Years War the castle was looted several times.
use
Electress Anna of Saxony and her castle
Electress Anna, wife of August I of Saxony and namesake of the city of Annaburg, resided in the newly built Lochau Castle (later Annaburg), ran a distillery and dealt with the production of medicine, fruit and herb cultivation, aquavit production and the art of cooking. Annaburg Castle housed the first Saxon court pharmacy. In the period from 1762 to 1821 the buildings were used as a military school. The buildings of the dining room (1886), the prayer room (1886) and the staff building (1876) of the former military boys' institute also date from this period.
Todays use
A large part of the palace complex is now occupied by apartments. In addition, the Annaburg Castle and Home Festival takes place on the grounds of the castle every year in June.
museum
Today's museum in the back castle provides information about the development of the castle, the history of its construction and use with the important people for Annaburg, Friedrich the Wise, Elector August I of Saxony and Electress Anna of Denmark, and its use as a military boy education institute in the period from 1762 to 1921 as well as the electoral hunt in the Lochau and Annaburger Heide . Another focus is the importance of the well-preserved flat ceiling, one of the first “wallpapers” in Europe, which was uncovered in 1987 by the Association for Local History and Monument Preservation.
description
The castle complex is divided into two stylistically completely independent structures, namely the front lock and the rear lock, as well as additional outbuildings designed for the respective use.
Front lock
The front lock consists of a three-winged system of plastered brick buildings with high hipped mansard roofs and arched doors. The buildings underwent major changes between 1780 and 1786. In the west wing there is a three-storey, two-axis central projection with a gate entrance and an octagonal tower with a hood and lantern . There are two heavy polygon pillars in front of the driveway. There are three semicircular protruding towers on the outside of the wing in the direction of the market, one round tower on the northwest corner. Renovation work at the end of the 18th century was carried out by the master builders von Schindler and von Langen as well as court carpenter Christian Gottlob Reuss , and changed the originally much simpler parts of the building.
Back lock
The three-wing complex with a connecting gallery consists of a kitchen house in the southeast, the gatehouse in the northwest and the big house in the northeast. The construction in these forms is characteristic of the palace buildings under Elector August von Sachsen. In the courtyard of the three-storey complex there is a stair tower with an equestrian staircase from 1585. On the opposite side of the courtyard is a covered corridor, which is designed as a two-storey loggia. There are wooden beam ceilings with flat ceilings on the upper floor of the kitchen house. The former courtyard room on the ground floor of the large house is provided with Tuscan columns and flat ceilings. A previously existing chapel in the Great House was destroyed during renovation work in 1874. Lucas Cranach the Younger , Hans Schroer and Caspar Perzsch , among others , were involved in furnishing the building .
Outbuildings
Buildings belonging to the castle are:
- The former barracks, a castle-like neo-renaissance building from the years 1880/1881
- The old hospital was built by von Schindler in 1780 and is a late baroque, plastered half-timbered building with a massive ground floor.
- The former hunter's house, which later became the head forester's office, Tiergarten
- The former stud
- The former office building was built after a fire in the previous building in 1578 for the administration of the Electoral Saxon Office Annaburg , which has existed since 1429 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Georg Dehio, Handbook of German Art Monuments, Saxony-Anhalt 2, Dessau and Halle administrative districts
- ^ Justus Christian Thorschmidt, Antiquarius ecclesiasticus Saxonicus
- ↑ List of monuments of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Jessen district, 1993
- ^ Website of the city of Annaburg ( Memento of April 28, 2002 in the Internet Archive ), accessed July 5, 2009.
- ^ Georg Dehio, Handbook of German Art Monuments, Saxony-Anhalt 2, Dessau and Halle administrative districts
literature
- Matthias Prasse: Arcadia on the Elbe River. Palaces and gardens between Wittenberg and Dessau Herrenhaus-Kultur-Verlag, Dresden 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-030860-4 , p. 26 ff.
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of German art monuments - Saxony-Anhalt 2: administrative districts Dessau and Halle . ISBN 3-422-03065-4 .
- Stephan Hoppe : Anatomy of an early "Villa" in Central Europe. The castle and garden of the Saxon Elector Frederick the Wise in Lochau (Annaburg) according to the 1519 report of Hans Herzheimer . In: Monique Chatenet (ed.): Maisons des champs dans l'Europe de la Renaissance . Paris 2006, pp. 159-170 ( digitized ).
- Wilhelm Christian Gottlob Weise: History of the Electoral Saxon Education Institute for Soldier Boys of Protestant and Catholic Religion in Annaburg . Zimmermann, Wittenberg 1803 ( digitized version ).
- Military weekly paper: independent magazine for the German armed forces, volume 59, the military boy education institute in Annaburg , p.35
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 43 ′ 46.6 " N , 13 ° 2 ′ 55" E