Wetzelstein Castle

The origins of Wetzelstein lie in alum production, which began in the Saale valley as early as 1544. An alum works at Wetzelstein was described by Georgius Agricola in 1546 and was part of the Frege alum and vitriol works. After several changes of ownership, the Leipzig banker Christian Gottlob Frege acquired the works in 1760. The Frege family operated the plant until about 1850, when new chemical methods displaced alum shale extraction and the mining facilities fell into disrepair. In 1874, Dr. Richard Woldemar Frege, a great-grandson of the progenitor, purchased an older property at Wetzelstein. Between 1878 and 1880, he had a small Neo-Romanesque castle built there by Constantin Lipsius from sandstone and quarry stone. He bequeathed this, including the property, to his newly founded foundation in 1913.