Germany · 12th century
Burg Stolpen, which in the course of its history was rebuilt from a hilltop castle into a palace and was later used as a fortress, lies about 27 kilometres east of Dresden, immediately south of the historic town centre of Stolpen in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge at 356 m above sea level. For over three centuries Stolpen was owned by the bishops of Meissen and was at times their main residence. Under the Saxon princely house of the Wettins the hilltop castle was expanded into a fortified Renaissance palace and extended into a modern state fortress, before it decayed into a partial ruin. The most prominent inhabitant of Burg Stolpen was Countess Constantia von Cosel, who was held prisoner at the complex for half a century and was also buried there after her death.
Napoleon sealed Stolpen's insignificance in defensive strategy. Today the castle complex is among the best-known sights in Saxony. Besides the historic buildings, the geology of the hill is also of importance, since especially on the western side of the castle hill the angular, jagged columnar basalt emerges and testifies to the volcanic origin of the subsoil.
Machine-translated from “Burg Stolpen” on the German Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Burg Stolpen ranks #2,674 of 9,035 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #210 of the 709 mapped in Germany. Founded 1121, it is older than 84% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 763 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,084 times in the last 60 days, more than 83% of the atlas. 14 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Dresden, 24 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.
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