Schloss Hartenstein

Schloss Hartenstein stands in the Erzgebirge, south-east of Zwickau, as a ruined neogothic castle. It overlooks the valley of the Zwickauer Mulde from a spur of the Schloßberg. Nearby lies the older Burg Stein in the same valley. Before its destruction it was called the ‘Pearl of the Erzgebirge’ by local people. The only neogothic palace in the range, it was once a residence of the Schönburg family. The castle’s history reaches back to a fortress built around 1150 to guard a road from Altenburg through Zwickau to Bohemia. Meinher I of Werben, first known owner, founded a nearby monastery in 1173. By 1406 the Schönburgs held Hartenstein as security for a loan. After the Meinher line died out, Veit I of Schönburg became the permanent lord in 1417. The castle was enlarged in the 16th century under Ernst II of Schönburg and again in the early 17th. Visitors now walk among ivy-covered walls and vaulted cellars of the ruin. The outer courtyard buildings serve as homes, while the main structure forms an open-air stage. A small chapel, once a gun-room, still holds its pulpit and pews. The Sophienkapelle, rebuilt in 1696, keeps its Baroque furnishings. In the woods nearby, traces of the 1945 bombing remain. A local club continues to preserve what is left of the ‘Pearl of the Erzgebirge’.