Lichtenwalde Castle

Lichtenwalde Castle is a Baroque castle located in the eponymous district of the municipality of Niederwiesa in the Mittelsachsen district, owned by the Free State of Saxony. The castle is surrounded by a Baroque park with numerous water features, which was named one of the most beautiful parks in Germany in 2005.

Castle

Around 1230, a castle complex was built on the left bank of the Zschopau, 60 m above the valley. The Margraves of Meissen are considered to be the builders, who had colonized the entire surrounding area south and west of the river some years earlier from Rochlitz. The castle initially served as a bulwark against the imperial immediate lordships of Mildenstein and Schellenberg to the north and east and was administered by a margravial castellan, in which capacity a knight Heidenreich von Lichtenwalde served in 1280.

After the castle was administered by the Empire for a short time at the end of the 13th century, it fell back to the Margraves in 1307, who pledged the property with all its appurtenances to the Burgraves of Meissen in 1336 and later also enfeoffed them with it. The Burgraves, in turn, granted the castle some years later to the von Honsberg family, who ruled here until 1439, while the burgravial feudal suzerainty had already fallen back to the Margraves in 1426. In 1439, Apel Vitzthum the Younger of Roßla and Konrad von Stein exchanged their possessions with those of Honsberg and thus became the new owners of the castle and lordship, but lost them again in the course of the Saxon Fratricidal War in 1447.

From 1447 to 1561, the new owners were the von Harras, an old noble family originating from Thuringia. Initially, Hermann von Harras was enfeoffed with Lichtenwalde in 1447. The most important representative of the family was Dietrich von Harras († 1499), who took over the castle from about 1474 after the death of his mother Ilse together with three brothers. This Dietrich von Harras is the one from the Harras legend, to whom Theodor Körner erected a lasting monument in his ballad "Harras the Bold Jumper".

After Dietrich's death, the lordship first passed to his son Georg II von Harras († 1538) and then to Eustachius von Harras, who had the old castle converted into a residential palace in 1550 and died in 1561 without male heirs, whereupon the lordship of Lichtenwalde fell to the Electorate of Saxony and was transformed into a princely office.

In 1694, the von Bünau family acquired Lichtenwalde in exchange for Pillnitz near Dresden, which Elector Johann Georg IV wanted to give to his mistress Magdalena Sibylla von Neitschütz.

Palace

In 1719, Jakob Heinrich Count von Flemming bought the indebted property of the von Bünau family at auction and sold it in 1722 to Christoph Heinrich Imperial Count von Watzdorf († 1729), who had the remains of the old castle as well as the Harras palace demolished and erected a large Baroque palace in their place. His son Friedrich Carl von Watzdorf († 1764) had an extensive park laid out around the complex from 1730 onwards.

When Watzdorf died without descendants, Lichtenwalde came into the possession of his widow, Henriette Sophia, née Countess Vitzthum von Eckstädt, in 1764. Thus, after more than 300 years, the property once again came to the Vitzthums. The Counts Vitzthum von Eckstädt remained lords of Lichtenwalde until their expropriation in 1945.

The building suffered severe damage due to a major fire that destroyed the roof and upper floor on Walpurgis Night in 1905. Until 1908, the lord of the castle, Friedrich Count Vitzthum von Eckstädt, had it rebuilt by the Dresden court architect Gustav Fröhlich, largely true to the original, but with eclectic alterations.

In July 1945, the Russians confiscated the castle and expelled the last lady of the castle, Sibylle Countess Vitzthum von Eckstädt († 1951), who had taken in several refugee families, from the house. While the old lady found a new home with friends in the village of Lichtenwalde until her death, the castle was plundered. After the military withdrew in 1946, the furniture and the porcelain and painting collection of the Vitzthum family were no longer present.

The now nationalized castle was used from 1948 first as a sanatorium, then as a TB sanatorium. In 1972, an educational institution of the state health system of the GDR was established in the house. In 1990, the castle became the property of the re-established Free State of Saxony, which used the property as an educational center for the Saxon State Ministry for Social Affairs until 1995. With the relocation of the school to the newly built educational center in Niederbobritzsch, the castle initially stood empty.

Since 1999, the property management of the State Office for Finance has managed the castle, which received a new – museum – use. The castle, owned by the Free State of Saxony, has been extensively renovated in recent years. On March 28, 2010, a completely new museum complex was opened after extensive renovation work. Previous exhibitions, such as the Clock Museum, have moved to Chemnitz.

Manorial Lordship

The judicial lordship, which existed until 1855, included, in addition to the village of Lichtenwalde, the villages of Ebersdorf (today part of Chemnitz), Nieder- and Oberlichtenau (today Lichtenau), Nieder- and Oberwiesa (today Niederwiesa), Ortelsdorf (today part of Frankenberg), Merzdorf, Ottendorf, Garnsdorf (half until 1724, then whole), Auerswalde (half until 1724, then whole), Braunsdorf and Gückelsberg (today part of Flöha).