Trebsen Castle

Trebsen Castle is a late Gothic building, constructed as a moated castle, in the Saxon town of Trebsen in the district of Leipzig.

The discovery of pottery shards, dated to the 9th century, suggests that the castle's location was already settled at that time. Most likely, it was the Slavic count Bucelin who had Trebicin Castle built in 991 to protect the then Mulde ford of an important trade route.

A first mention of the castle in the late Gothic style and of the knight Heinricus de Trebecin appears in a document from Canon Berthold von Naumburg dated May 1, 1161.
In 1330, the castle passed into the possession of the Lords Grosse von Döbeln. In 1494, Knight Georg von Saalhausen became the new owner, and the expansion into a three-wing complex with typical late Gothic stepped gables began, completed in 1527 by the Lords von Minckwitz, who became lords of the castle in 1516. In 1548, it was acquired by the Count of Barby, in 1592 by the Lords von Schulenberg, and in 1637 by the family von Dieskau.

In 1736, the bourgeois merchant Dr. Vincent Baumann, who had immigrated from Hamburg, became the owner of the castle. In the 18th century, he had the south wing built (incorporating older ground-floor structures) and the entire complex baroque-ized. In 1738, the mighty round tower in the castle courtyard, measuring almost 18 meters in diameter, was largely demolished.

The last lords of the castle were Gustav Lehmann from 1886 and Rittmeister a. D. Georg von Zimmermann from 1892. Under the latter, a renovation of the courtyard and the re-furnishing of the ground-floor rooms in the west and east wings took place in 1909/1910 according to designs by Saalecker Werkstätten G.M.B.H. under the direction of Paul Schultze-Naumburg.

After the Second World War, the von Zimmermann family, as large landowners, was expropriated and expelled by the communists. In 1946/47, the roofs over the west and north wings were demolished to obtain building materials, causing the north wing to further fall into ruin. The remaining building was used until 1992, in addition to residential purposes, by the volunteer fire brigade, as a kindergarten and local history museum, and as a senior citizens' meeting point for the Volkssolidarität.