Schloss Scharfenberg, Saxony is a medieval castle on the southern slopes of the

River Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

mid-way between

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

and

Meissen Meissen ( ), is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden and 75 km (46 mi) west of Bautzen on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, th ...

. It lies in the Pegenau area of

Klipphausen Klipphausen is a municipality in the district of Meißen, in Saxony, Germany. Schloss Scharfenberg is located in the Pegenau area of Klipphausen. In today's locality Röhrsdorf, Julius Adolph Stöckhardt was born, who helped to establish agricu ...

municipality,

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 ...

. The castle has a panoramic view over the Elbe valley. It has a long-established link to many artists as a Romantic subject. It is currently (2023) run partly as a hotel, taking advantage of its romantic location and atmosphere.

History

1827 Oehme Burg Scharfenberg bei Nacht anagoria

Some 19th century records link the castle to

Henry the Fowler Henry the Fowler ( or '; ; – 2 July 936) was the duke of Saxony from 912 and the king of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non- Frankish king of East Francia, he established the Ottonian dynasty of kings and emper ...

and dates it from 938 A.D. However, there is no evidence to support this claim. The original castle dates from around 1200 A.D. of which some of the western boundary walls and entrance gate remain. Archaeological digs found a circular keep to the west, dating from 1220. The castle is first mentioned in 1227 in a church document in

and it is in the control of the Bishop of Meissen. In 1390 it is controlled by Bernhard von Maltitz and in 1403 Dietrich von Miltitz. The castle remained in the ownership and control of the Von Miltitz family until the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During this time the castle was badly damaged in the

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

. As a result, large sections of the inner castle date from the late 17th century. The castle was again besieged and successfully defended against the Swedish army in 1706 during the

Great Nordic War In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter ...

. In 1783 an accidental fire destroyed the timber built north side of the courtyard. The timber-built south side survives. In the early 19th century, during the period of the Grand Tour, Scharfenberg became an established Romantic destination, and the architecture was altered to enhance this Romantic image. In the first quarter of the century, under Dietrich von Miltitz and then

Carl Borromäus von Miltitz Carl Borromäus von Miltitz (; 9 November 1781 – 19 January 1845) was a German composer, poet, and short story writer. Life Miltitz was born in Dresden on 9 November 1781. He held a literary circle at his ancestral castle Schloss Scharfenber ...

, several leading literary figures of the time gathered there, forming the "Scharfenberger Circle", including

Novalis Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (2 May 1772 – 25 March 1801), pen name Novalis (; ), was a German nobility, German aristocrat and polymath, who was a poet, novelist, philosopher and Mysticism, mystic. He is regarded as an inf ...

Christian Gottfried Körner Christian Gottfried Körner (2 July 1756 – 13 May 1831) was a German jurist. His home was a literary and musical salon, and he was a friend of Friedrich Schiller. Biography Born in Leipzig, he studied law at the University of Göttingen and at ...

Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué Friedrich Heinrich Karl de la Motte, Baron Fouqué (; 12 February 1777 – 23 January 1843) was a German writer of the Romantic style. Biography He was born at Brandenburg an der Havel, of a family of French Huguenot origin, as evidenced in h ...

Johann August Apel Johann August Apel (17 September 1771 – 9 August 1816) was a German writer and jurist. Apel was born and died in Leipzig. Influence "" was Apel's version of the Freischütz folktale, and it was published as the first story of the first vo ...

and E. T. A. Hoffmann. During this period the Von Miltitz family were also great patrons of artists and several famous artists were commissioned to paint the castle. These included Ernst Ferdinand Oehme, Thomas Fearnley,

Johan Christian Clausen Dahl Johan Christian Claussen Dahl (24 February 178814 October 1857), often known as or , was a Danish-Norwegians, Norwegian artist who is considered the first great romantic painter in Norway, the founder of the "golden age" of Norwegian painting. H ...

and

Caspar David Friedrich Caspar David Friedrich (; 5 September 1774 – 7 May 1840) was a German Romanticism, German Romantic Landscape painting, landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti ...

. For various reasons the castle fell empty during the

. It was occupied by various persons displaced by the war in a hostel fashion and was under state control under the Soviet regime. This continued into the 1950s. Although the castle is relatively large it is far from any city and is not a good area to house workers. In the 1960s it opened as a museum, but was generally only of local interest in relation to its neighbouring cities. It still had a residential function and an artist community linked itself to the building, also keen to preserve the castle. These included

Achim Freyer Achim Freyer (; born 30 March 1934) is a German stage director, set designer and painter. A protégé of Bertolt Brecht, Freyer has become one of the world's leading opera directors, working throughout Europe and, since 2002, in the United Stat ...

Emil Nolde Emil Nolde (born Hans Emil Hansen; 7 August 1867 – 13 April 1956) was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and was one of the first oil painting and watercolor painters of the early ...

, Achim Heym, Andreas Reinhardt, Karl-Heinz-Schäfer and Otto Walchau. Through the 1970s and 1980s it was used for civil defence purposes, partly due to its strategic views over the River Elbe. At the reunification of Germany in 1989 all state functions ceased. It was sold privately. Since 2007 it has housed an annual festival of Romantic poetry.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scharfenberg Castles in Saxony