Scharfenberg Castle
Scharfenberg Castle is one of the typical castles in Saxony that were built in the course of the consolidation of the rule around 1200 . It is located on a rocky promontory above the Elbe Valley near Meißen in the Pegenau district , which belongs to the village of Scharfenberg in the municipality of Klipphausen named after the castle . From the castle you have a wonderful view of the Elbe Valley near Coswig and the Spaar Mountains . The castle can be visited after consultation; Guest rooms and other rooms are also rented out.
location
Scharfenberg Castle is located in the large community of Klipphausen in the lower part of the Scharfenberg district and can be reached from the B 6 via the Schachtberg. The cities of Meissen and Dresden are in the immediate vicinity.
history
The castle was built in the course of the German settlement in the east in the years around 1200, as Dieter Stuchly was able to establish beyond doubt on the basis of extensive archaeological excavations. Oldest components are remnants of the curtain wall in the northwest and southwest (around 1200) and the excavated round keep (around 1220). Whether the late Romanesque courtyard portal from around 1200, which has been attached to the inside of the gate passage in secondary use since the 16th century, comes from the Scharfenberg itself ( Palasportal ) or from a nearby sacred building (it was assumed that Heilig Kreuz Abbey downstream near Meißen), can no longer be determined. The name Scharfenberg is a typical castle name that has nothing to do with the silver mines attested to in the 13th century , as was initially suspected due to a lack of name-related research in the 19th century. The neighboring Reppnitz also belonged to the Scharfenberg manor . The alleged foundation of the castle by King Heinrich den Vogler in 938 is a learned invention of the 19th century. The castle was first mentioned in 1227. Scharfenberg was initially owned by the Meissen bishops ; Bernhard von Maltitz is attested in 1390 and Dietrich von Miltitz in 1403.
From 1403 to 1941 it was owned by the von Miltitz family . During the Thirty Years' War the castle was conquered by the Swedes and partially destroyed. Then it was rebuilt in the Renaissance style. In 1706 during the Great Northern War , the castle was besieged again by the Swedes in vain. In 1783 the palace on the Elbe burned down. The palace on the mountain side is also only preserved as a ruin.
In the first quarter of the 19th century Scharfenberg Castle became a center of Romanticism (as the so-called " Scharfenberg Circle ") by the art-loving von Miltitz family (with Dietrich von Miltitz and Karl Borromäus von Miltitz ) . a. with Christian Gottfried Körner , Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué , Johann August Apel and ETA Hoffmann . Because of its wildly romantic location, Scharfenberg Palace was a popular motif , especially for the painters Ernst Ferdinand Oehme , the Norwegian Thomas Fearnley , Johan Christian Clausen Dahl and Caspar David Friedrich .
After 1945 resettlers and resettlers lived in the castle . After that it served as a local museum. In the 1960s and 1970s, the sporadic stay of artists - painters, graphic artists and neighboring enthusiasts - saved the castle by using their art-loving presence to save the castle from final decay. With the help of the Kulturbund der DDR , the artists set up small exhibitions for visitors and art lovers. Over 40 etchings by Andreas Garn and historical keyboard instruments by the musical instrument maker Jürgen Ammer could be viewed in the rooms . Many of these artists have a reputation beyond regional borders, such as Achim Freyer , Emil Nolde , Achim Heym , Andreas Reinhardt , Karl-Heinz-Schäfer , Otto Walcha and others. a. The castle animated her to create countless landscapes. Art and culture professionals, connoisseurs and lovers met here for festivals, hikes and discussions.
One wing of the castle served the civil defense of the GDR as a secret depot for medicines, food, etc. until 1990 . a. Reserves in an ABC attack .
Today the castle is privately owned and operated as a hotel. Since 2007 there has been a highly acclaimed, poetic castle ceremony every autumn under the title “Do you also have a favor for us, dark night?”, Which approaches the romantic epoch in terms of theater and music.
literature
- Yves Hoffmann: Scharfenberg and the Scharfenberg silver mining in the Middle Ages. In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association. Issue 98, 2006, pp. 15-37.
- Dieter Stuchly: Archaeological investigations on Scharfenberg Castle near Meißen in the years 1981 to 1983. In: Work and research reports on the maintenance of the Saxon soil monuments. 50, 2008, pp. 307-331.
- Helmuth Gröger: Scharfenberg Castle . In: Burgen und Schlösser in Sachsen , Heimatwerk Sachsen 1940, p. 129
Web links
Coordinates: 51 ° 7 ′ 30 ″ N , 13 ° 31 ′ 41 ″ E