Schkopau Castle

Schkopau Castle is a castle on the eastern edge of Schkopau in Saxony-Anhalt. It is located on a hill between the town and the Saale river.

It was probably built in the ninth century as a Carolingian fortification and expanded in the twelfth century as Scapowe Castle. In 1215, the site was first mentioned in a document when Emperor Frederick II gifted the imperial castle to the Archdiocese of Magdeburg. In 1444, the "hus tu Schapow" fell to the Bishop of Merseburg, and in 1477, to the von Trotha family. From 1554 to 1558, the southern parts of the castle were converted into a residential palace for the Trothas, and the medieval keep, with a diameter of 11 m, was integrated into the new building. In 1830, a fire necessitated the reconstruction of the north wing. In 1876, the castle was rebuilt in Neo-Renaissance style. In 1945, the Trothas were dispossessed and expelled by the communists. (When the construction of the Buna Works was planned in the 1930s, the locations Döllnitz or Schkopau were considered. One of the Trothas, a general, managed to push through in Berlin that it would be built in Schkopau. This allowed the Trothas to sell their land to IG Farben beforehand and financially rehabilitate themselves.)