Poschwitz Castle

Poschwitz Castle was for centuries the seat of the Lords of der Gabelentz and is located in the Poschwitz district of the East Thuringian Skat and Residence City of Altenburg. Here, in 1813, the game of Skat was invented by a circle of scholars around the lord of the castle, Hans Carl Leopold von der Gabelentz.

The first documented owner of a moated castle was Otto von Poschwitz in the period from 1264 to 1274. By 1388, it was already in the possession of Albrecht I von der Gabelentz, who also owned the Nobitz manor. His grandson Hans von der Gabelentz was enfeoffed with Windischleuba in 1455. In 1499, an inheritance division occurred, and Georg II von der Gabelentz received the manors of Poschwitz and Nobitz.

The moated castle burned down in 1507. Georg II acquired the Windischleuba manor from his brother Heinrich in 1515. Georg's son Sebastian was enfeoffed with his father's three manors in 1536. In 1580, Friedrich von der Gabelentz took over the Poschwitz manor and built the current castle in Renaissance style.

In 1806, Hans Carl Leopold von der Gabelentz took over the Poschwitz manor, which in 1803 had an area of 71.24 ha. He arranged for the consolidation and reduction of the two ponds into one, which still exists today. From 1842 to 1847, the castle was extended with a neo-Gothic south wing. His son Hans Conon von der Gabelentz is considered one of the most significant lords of Poschwitz; among other things, he was President of the State Parliament of the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg until 1870. After his death in 1874, his sons Hans Albrecht and Georg took over the manor, which in 1873 had an area of 137.9 ha. Georg's son Albrecht von der Gabelentz inherited it in 1893. He had the living quarters of the castle renovated in 1903 and 1904. In 1912, properties in Remsa were added, so that the manor had an area of 172 ha in 1923.

After Albrecht's death in 1933, his widow Olga von der Gabelentz took over the manor, which by this time had shrunk to 126 ha. As a result, she was dispossessed in 1945 as part of the land reform, despite the then director of the Lindenau Museum, Hanns Conon von der Gabelentz (* 1892; † 1977), establishing a local history museum. During the expropriation, the valuable linguistic library of Hans Conon von der Gabelentz (* 1807; † 1874) and the playing card collection were lost to the Soviet Union as "trophy art".

The neo-Gothic tower top of the castle was removed in 1961 due to dilapidation. In the early 1970s, a stable and the gate passage of the farmyard were demolished. The barn followed in 1988 and 1989. From 1971 to 1991, the castle housed apartments and the headquarters of VEB Gartenbaubetrieb Poschwitz (Poschwitz Horticultural Enterprise). In 2013, emergency securing work was carried out in the roof area, as the private owner was allowing the castle to increasingly fall into disrepair.

From 1774, the manor was owned by Wilhelm Ludwig von der Gabelentz, who began to enlarge and design the old pleasure garden in a representative manner. His successors also created various gardens. The current park west of the castle measures approximately 5000 m².