Gauernitz Castle

On Federal Highway 6, running parallel to the Elbe from Dresden to Meißen, one comes directly upon a large castle in Gauernitz.

A first mention of Gauernitz Castle dates back to the 14th century, apparently in connection with the Scharfenberg silver mining. Since that time, Gauernitz belonged to the Ziegler von Klipphausen family. Balthasar Ziegler built the current castle, a tower-like two-story residential building with a gabled roof, over older structural parts.

After several changes of ownership, the property passed to the princely house of Schönburg-Waldenburg in 1819. This family had the castle rebuilt between 1862 and 1870 by the two architects Bernhard Schreiber and Ernst Giese in the style of the German Neo-Renaissance, incorporating the older "Hohes Haus" (High House). The castle was enlarged and equipped with richly structured gables and bay windows. To create an architectural counterweight to the "Hohes Haus", the head building of the side wing was also adorned with elaborate decorative gables and a bay window. In 1945, the owners were dispossessed and expelled by the communists.

After the expropriation, apartments were set up in Gauernitz Castle, and a kindergarten, the school, and the municipal administration were housed there. In 2003, the municipality sold the house, which was in need of renovation, into private ownership.

The architecturally significant country castle consists of three wings, the largest of which is the west wing. Adjoining it is the north wing, which is bounded by the oldest part of the building, the "Hohes Haus" from the 16th century. To the south of the main house, a side wing ends in a structured decorative gable. At one corner, it features an ornate two-story bay window. A large staircase in the main wing leads to the stately rooms on the upper floor.