Wildeck Castle or Wildeck Palace () is an old
hunting lodge in
Zschopau
Zschopau (), is a town in the Erzgebirgskreis district of Saxony, Germany.
The town grew around the castle, which was built in the mid-12th century to protect the Salt Road, which crossed the Zschopau River here. Mining was also practiced from ...
in
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 ...
. It stands on a
rocky spur above the
River Zschopau.
Site
The site today forms an irregular triangle, the narrow wing of the castle surrounding the courtyard, with its
bergfried
''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Italian: ''torrione''; Castilian: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries an ...
known as ''Dicker Heinrich'' or "Fat Henry", faces the River Zschopau; the side facing the town is sealed by a wall. The
staircase tower
A staircase tower or stair tower (, also ''Stiegenturm'' or ''Wendelstein'') is a tower-like wing of a building with a circular or polygonal plan that contains a stairwell, usually a helical staircase.
History
Only a few examples of staircase ...
in the corner of two wings is called ''Schlanke Margarete'' or "Skinny Margaret".
Literature
*
* Autorenkollektiv: ''Geschichte der Stadt Zschopau. Entstehung bis 1945.'' Zschopau, 1989.
* Heinz Bauer: ''Die Zschopauer Burg. Probleme ihrer Datierung.'' In: ''Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter'' 15(1993)5, pp. 6–9,
* Eberhard Hahn: ''Schloss Wildeck in Zschopau einst und jetzt.'' In: ''Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter'' 26(2004)1, pp. 2–5,
External links
Website of Wildeck Castle
{{Coord, 50, 44, 44.6, N, 13, 04, 06.8, E, type:landmark_region:DE-SN, display=title
Hunting lodges in Germany
Castles in Saxony
Ore Mountains
Buildings and structures in Erzgebirgskreis