Freudenstein Castle () is located on the ''Schloßplatz'' ("Castle Square") on the edge of the town centre of

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

in the German state of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. Its history is closely linked to the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () was a dynasty which included Saxon monarch, kings, Prince Elector, prince-electors, dukes, and counts, who once ruled territories in the present-day German federated states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynas ...

. After several conversions the castle is now a

stately home 300px, Oxfordshire.html" ;"title="Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire">Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a To ...

with four wings comprising these buildings: the Langes Haus, Neues Haus, Kirchenflügel, Großer Turm und Schmales Haus ("Long House", "New House", "Church Wing", "Great Tower" and "Narrow House").

History

After the discovery of

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

in Christiansdorf,

Margrave Margrave was originally the Middle Ages, medieval title for the military commander assigned to maintain the defence of one of the border provinces of the Holy Roman Empire or a monarchy, kingdom. That position became hereditary in certain Feudal ...

Otto II of Meissen Otto II, the Rich (; 1125 – 18 February 1190), a member of the House of Wettin, was List of margraves of Meissen, Margrave of Meissen from 1156 until his death. Life He was the eldest surviving son of Conrad, Margrave of Meissen and March of Lu ...

had a castle built in 1168 to protect the

silver mines Silver mining is the extraction of silver by mining. Silver is a precious metal and holds high economic value. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires the use of complex technologies. In ...

. On 31 July 1312 the castle is first mentioned in a record as a ''Hus'' ("house"). In later documents it is described as an ''arx'', ''Castrum'', ''flos'' and ''Burg''. The Freiberg castle is first referred to as "Freudenstein" in 1525. After 1505 Duke Henry the Pious mainly resided in Freiberg. During his reign, his sons, later the

elector Elector may refer to: * Prince-elector or elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Holy Roman Emperors * Elector, a member of an electoral college ** Confederate elector, a member of t ...

s of Saxony, Moritz and

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

, were born at the castle. The construction of the new castle was begun in 1566 by master builder, Hans Irmisch, under the supervision of Rochus zu Lynar. Its completion in the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

architectural style was finished in 1577. In

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, it formed part of the defensive system of the town of Freiberg, and was occasionally used as a military base. In 1762, in consequence of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

, the interior of the castle was completely wrecked. When ownership of the property was taken over by the military treasury in 1784, the second major conversion of the Renaissance palace into a

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

was carried out. This involved a major change to the building structure. The Renaissance windows were replaced by small armoury windows. Inside, low armoury floors were built in a simple design. From 1800, it was partly rebuilt into a miners' granary ('' Bergmagazin''). During the Napoleonic occupation in 1813, the castle was used as a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

for 1,500 wounded. With the transfer of legal ownership to the town of Freiberg in 1957, it served until 1979 as a granary. In 1973, a youth club opened in the basement. From 1980 to 1990, a heritage organization was based at the castle. In a return to its structural appearance in 1577, the facade of the New House was rebuilt in the Renaissance style under its direction. In 2004, ownership of the castle was given back to the town of Freiberg. Between 2005 and 2008 it was converted as the result of a Europe-wide competition under the direction of AFF Architects Berlin/Chemnitz. This saw the gutting of the Church Wing, in order to house the mining archives. The "terra mineralia" exhibition was housed in the adjacent Long House.

References

Literature

* Heinrich Douffet, Uwe Richter, Ulrich Thiel: ''Schloss Freudenstein in Freiberg. Die Herausbildung der Stadt Freiberg und die Anlage der Burg''. In: ''Sächsische Heimatblätter''. Vold. 54, No. 2, 2008, , pp. 172–184 * Heinrich Douffet, Uwe Richter: ''Zur Fertigstellung des Schlosses Freudenstein in Freiberg im Jahre 2008.'' in: Erzgebirgsverein e. V. (pub.): ''Jahrbuch für das Erzgebirge 2008.'' Marienberg, 2007, , pp. 6–8 * Gerhard Heide, Christel-Maria Höppner, Steffen Jahn, Andreas Massanek, Uwe Richter: ''Glanzlichter aus der Welt der Mineralien. Die Pohl-Ströher-Mineraliensammlung Schloss Freudenstein/Freiberg''. TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 2008, * Christian Weise, ed.: ''Freiberg, Mineralien, Bergbau & Museen'', extraLapis No. 36, Munich, 2009, ISSN 0945-8492

External links

*
Website of "terra mineralia" with information about the exhibition on 23 October 2008
{{Authority control Freudenstein Freiberg Buildings and structures in Mittelsachsen