Graditz Castle

The first documented mention of the Graditz outpost occurred in the year 1004. Until 1240, the outpost was owned by the Lords of Pack. In 1240, Dobrilugk Monastery acquired Graditz and developed it into an important monastic estate.

After the dissolution of the monastery in 1541, Graditz came into the possession of the Wettins, who founded the Graditz Stud, today's Graditz Stud Farm, in 1630, expanded it in 1686 with the Repitz outpost, and began breeding thoroughbreds.

In 1722, by order of Augustus the Strong, Graditz was elevated to the Electoral Saxon Stud Farm Graditz. In the same year, the construction of Graditz Castle and the rebuilding of all the buildings of the court stud farm began according to plans by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann.

After Saxony's defeat alongside France during the Wars of Liberation, Graditz was among the Saxon towns that fell to Prussia at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. The stud farm now became the Royal Prussian Main Stud Farm. The introduction of the Graditz brand mark, still in use today, took place in 1816. Under Chief State Stud Master Georg Graf von Lehndorff, who managed the stud farm from 1866 to 1906, Graditz developed into a renowned breeding center exclusively for thoroughbred horses. Horses from Graditz achieved numerous international successes. Graf von Lehndorff had Graditz Castle Park designed, the stud farm's farm buildings expanded, and residential houses built for the employees.

The stud farm suffered heavy losses in the First and Second World Wars. After 1945, most of the breeding horses were deported to the Soviet Union, used as farm horses, or even used as food.

The castle was used in 1945 for the celebration marking the meeting of the Americans and Russians on the Elbe near Torgau. Horse breeding in Graditz only resumed in 1949.

Since 1992, Graditz Stud Farm has been owned by the Free State of Saxony. Two years later, Graditz, with 250 inhabitants, became a district of the city of Torgau.