Wiesenburg Castle

Wiesenburg Castle stands on a hill above the Mulde river near Wildenfels in Saxony. It began as a medieval fortress built around 1200 and first recorded in 1251. The original round keep and parts of the wall survive from that time. After the Thirty Years’ War the castle was rebuilt in 1664, giving it a timber courtyard and an octagonal gate tower. The castle once guarded the river crossing to Schönau and Wildenfels. The castle passed through many hands: the Vogts of Weida, the Wettins, the von der Planitz family, the city of Zwickau, and Elector Augustus the Strong. In 1523 serfs sacked the castle and two years later 283 farmers took part in a revolt recorded by fines. A legend speaks of a secret passage linking the castle to a robber’s stronghold across the valley. Visitors find the medieval round keep and remnants of the curtain wall beside the later timber courtyard. The octagonal gate tower from 1664 marks the entrance to the rebuilt complex. Inside, private homes occupy parts of the structure while farm buildings recall its use by collective farms after 1945. The hilltop site still overlooks the Mulde and the bridge it once protected.