Hellhaus

Schloss Moritzburg stands on an island in the middle of a large pond in the village of Moritzburg, twelve kilometres north-west of Dresden. The present building began as a Renaissance hunting lodge built in the 1540s for Duke Moritz of Saxony. Later electors and kings enlarged it into a Baroque hunting palace, completing the four-winged design in the 1730s under August the Strong. The ensemble also includes the Hellhaus, a small pavilion once used for storing hunting gear, and the Fasanenschlösschen, a delicate pleasure palace.

The palace matters because it was the private playground of Saxon rulers for centuries. August the Strong turned it into a Baroque stage where he could stage grand hunts and entertain guests. The chapel was rededicated for Catholic services after he became King of Poland in 1697. The building survived wars and looting, and today it houses one of the world’s finest collections of hunting trophies, including 71 red-deer antlers that are up to 400 years old.

Inside, visitors walk through twenty rooms of royal apartments and servants’ quarters. The four great halls on the first floor—Billiards, Dining, Stone and Monstrous—rise two storeys high and are lined with leather wall hangings, silver furniture and monumental paintings. The Monstrous Hall shows scenes from Ovid’s tales of Diana, goddess of the chase. Outside, the terraces and surrounding park hold statues by Permoser and Thomae, while the ponds and avenues recall the hunts that once filled these rooms with life.