- Type
- Castle
- Built
- 1589 · 16th century
- Coordinates
- 50.9191°, 14.0581°
History
A castle on the plateau above the Elbe began in the Middle Ages as a Bohemian royal stronghold and passed to the Wettins in 1459. In 1589 Elector Christian I began converting it into a modern fortress, which was enlarged over the following centuries. Being so inaccessible, it served as a refuge for the Saxon court and treasury and as a state prison, holding among others Johann Friedrich Böttger, August Bebel and Frank Wedekind. In the Second World War it was a camp for captured officers, from which the French general Henri Giraud escaped in 1942. A museum has occupied it since 1955.
What to see
The fortress covers a plateau of nearly 10 hectares, about 240 metres above the Elbe. A circuit of walls runs around barracks, arsenals, the garrison church and the well house, whose shaft was cut more than 150 metres into the rock. Exhibitions tell the story of the fortress and its prisoners, and the walls offer a sweeping panorama of Saxon Switzerland, including the Lilienstein and the Elbe valley.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q700562
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