Karrasburg Castle

The Karrasburg is a medieval moated castle and also the name of the municipal museum of Coswig, located northwest of Dresden in the Saxon district of Meißen.

The name of the castle goes back to its builders, the Knights of Karras.

Around 1420, the noble family of Karras, one of the richest noble families in the Electorate of Saxony, became the feudal lords of Coswig. In the 15th century, the Karras family inhabited a castle in Coswig surrounded by a rampart and a moat. In 1496, Nickel von Karras had a church building erected for 750 Rhenish guilders. Its entrance portal is adorned with the coats of arms of the von Karras and von Pöllnitz families.

In 1556, after the sale of the estate by Hans and Georg Karras to Elector August I for 15,169 guilders, 11 groschen, and 10 pfennigs, the manor house was converted into a forester's lodge, where the royal foresters lived. A year later, P. Körner bought the electoral hunting lodge.

Further sales and changes of ownership followed. In 1577, the outbuilding with the moat was sold for 1,000 guilders. Until the foresters moved to Kreyern in 1679, the electoral hunters came from this family.

In 1688, a change of ownership occurred with the sale to Martin Schwedler. In 1706, the property went to Hanns Christoph Körner. Twenty years later, in 1726, a fire broke out on the estate.

The district judge of the Moritzburg office, Christian Schubert, acquired the renovated building and the plot of land in 1796. In 1828, he sold the plot and part of the lands for 4,200 Thaler to Dr. med. Heidenreich from Radeburg. In 1836, the property passed as an inheritance to his wife Friederike Luise Heidenreich. She sold it in 1844 to Dr. Johann Michael Weise. Weise sold the property just one year later to Karl Gottfried August Thienemann for 5,150 Thaler. Carl August Wilhelm Thienemann, Karl's son, inherited the property after his father's death in 1873. The residential house was rebuilt and extended for the purpose of renting it out. The current villa was built in 1897, for which the old house had to be demolished. The adjacent farm buildings on both sides were converted for residential purposes. Sparse remains of the old defensive walls are still present. In 1910, the Thienemann properties, including the Karrasburg, were assigned to Kirchstraße. In 1919, Thienemann sold part of his property. The estate with its park passed into the possession of Kötitzer Ledertuch- und Wachstuchwerke in 1922. In 1947, the Wittke family registered a business for bag production.