Schloss Weesenstein

Schloss Weesenstein is a Schloss located in Weesenstein, a small village, part of Müglitztal in the Müglitz river valley, around 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) south of Dohna in Saxony, Germany.

A castle was erected here sometime around 1200, built with the purpose of defending the border to the Kingdom of Bohemia; it was mentioned in written sources for the first time in 1318. The oldest part of the presently visible castle is its central round tower, erected sometime around 1300. The castle was built for the burgraves of Dohna; the burgraviate was incorporated in the Margraviate of Meissen in 1400 and in 1406 the castle was transferred by the margrave to the von Bünau family in gratitude for their support in the Dohna Feud. The Bünau family transformed the defensive castle into a residential Schloss in 1526–1575, and successive generations expanded and reconfigured the Schloss in stages.

It continued to be the main seat of the family for about 350 years. As a consequence of the Seven Years' War of 1756–1763 the family lost a substantial part of their wealth and had to part with the castle, which passed into the hands of the von Uckermann family. The Uckermanns owned the castle for two generations and continued to embellish the estate, not least the garden.

In 1830 the Schloss was purchased by King Anthony of Saxony. Several members of the Saxon royal family subsequently lived in the castle, including three kings: Anthony, John of Saxony and George of Saxony. In late 1917, during World War I, the castle was sold to an entrepreneur. In 1934 it was acquired by an association for the protection of the heritage of Saxony (German: Landesverein Sächsischer Heimatschutz). During World War II, the castle was used for safekeeping most of the collections of the Kupferstich-Kabinett (Collection of Prints, Drawings and Photographs) of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, the Dresden State Art Collections.

Because of this, the castle and its contents were spared from destruction during the bombing of Dresden in World War II. After the war, the castle was used to house refugees before it was taken over by the state. Today it belongs to the state corporation State Palaces, Castles and Gardens of Saxony (German: Staatliche Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten Sachsen). It houses a museum and 35 of the rooms of the castle are open to the public.

Text adapted from “Schloss Weesenstein” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Schloss Weesenstein ranks #2,625 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #189 of the 492 mapped in Germany. Founded c. 1200, it is older than 77% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,736 times in the last 60 days, more than 73% of the atlas. 11 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Dresden, 16 km away. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗