Kriebstein Castle (german: Burg Kriebstein) is a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Kriebstein Kriebstein is a municipality in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, ...

near the town of Waldheim in the German state of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

Location

The castle rises above steep crags over the River

Zschopau Zschopau (), is a town in the Erzgebirgskreis district of Saxony, Germany. Geography The town is located on the northwestern slopes of the Ore Mountains, on both Bank (geography), banks of the Zschopau (river), Zschopau River, about south-east ...

. Within the topographical grouping of

hill castles A hill castle or mountain castle is a castle built on a natural feature that stands above the surrounding terrain. It is a term derived from the German ''Höhenburg'' used in categorising castle sites by their topographical location. Hill castles ...

it is classified as a

spur castle A spur castle is a type of medieval fortification that is sited on a spur of a hill or mountain for defensive purposes. Ideally, it would be protected on three sides by steep hillsides; the only vulnerable side being that where the spur joins the ...

because it lies on the extreme end of a

hill spur A spur is a lateral ridge or tongue of land descending from a hill, mountain or main crest of a ridge. It can also be defined as another hill or mountain range which projects in a lateral direction from a main hill or mountain range. Examples of ...

surrounded on three sides by the Zschopau that flows around the spur in a large bow.

Layout

The rock on which the castle stands is separated from rising ground behind it by a man-made section of ditch, the so-called ''Halsgraben''. Typologically the Kriebstein is a combination of a tower castle (''Turmburg'') and a

ringwork A ringwork is a form of fortified defensive structure, usually circular or oval in shape. Ringworks are essentially motte-and-bailey castles without the motte. Defences were usually earthworks in the form of a ditch and bank surrounding the site. ...

castle (''Ringburg'') with an oval ground plan. Dominating the whole site is the monumental

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

perched atop the highest crag. With its sides measuring 22 x 12 metres, the tower, including its weather vane, reaches a height of 45 metres. Its late medieval oriel turrets and the

flèche Flèche or Fleche may refer to: *Flèche (architecture), a type of church spire *Flèche (cycling), a team cycling competition *Flèche (fencing), an aggressive offensive fencing technique *Flèche (fortification) A flèche ( Fr. for "arrow") is ...

give the castle a unique and thus unmistakable silhouette. Around the keep are grouped the tower-shaped gatehouse, the curtain wall with its domestic wing, the kitchen and other buildings including the chapel wing. On the east side of the chapel wing is the double-bay, cross-ribbed vaulted Gothic hall and the rear of the castle. This building complex, immediately above the steep slopes over the

river, has a continuous upper storey dating to the 17th century. The Late Gothic kitchen building is attached directly to the keep at the centre of the castle. The whole is enclosed by a domestic wing, that was used as a

great hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages, and continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great ...

(today as a concert and event chamber; weddings also take place at the castle) and contained the well house as well as the northern

defensive wall A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...

that joined onto the gatehouse.

References

* First record of Kriebstein Castle dating to 4 October 1384, Original in the Dresden Main State Archive (''Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden''), FinanzArchivurkunde No. 44/65.

Sources

* Cornelius Gurlitt: ''Beschreibende Darstellung der älteren Bau- und Kunstdenkmäler des Kgr. Sachsen.'' Heft 25. Ah. Döbeln, Dresden 1903, pp. 87–104. * Otto Eduard Schmidt: ''Burg Kriebstein – Ein Denkmal mitteldeutscher Geschichte und Kultur''. In: ''Mitteilungen des Landesvereins Sächsischer Heimatschutz''. Band 23, Heft 9–12, 1934, pp. 193–232. * Otto Eduard Schmidt: ''Die mittelalterlichen Fresken der Burgkapelle zu Kriebstein''. In: ''Mitteilungen des Landesvereins Sächsischer Heimatschutz''. Band 27, Heft 1–4, 1938, pp. 43–51. * Jochen Pfob: ''Wie alt ist Burg Kriebstein tatsächlich?'' In: ''Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter.'' No. 3, 1980, , pp. 64–65. * Wolfgang Schwabenickv: ''Die hochmittelalterliche Wehranlage "Waal" in Beerwalde, Kr. Hainichen''. In: ''Arbeits- und Forschungsberichte zur sächsischen Bodendenkmalpflege''. Heft 24/25. Berlin 1982, pp. 311–382. * Bernd Wippert: ''Zur Baugeschichte der Burg Kriebstein.'' In: ''Mitteilungen des Landesvereins Sächsischer Heimatschutz e. V.'' Nr. 2, 1993, , pp. 11–15. * Peter Petersen: ''Dendrochronologische Untersuchungen auf der Burg Kriebstein/Sachsen''. In: ''Forschungen zu Burgen und Schlössern''. Band 1. Wartburg-Gesellschaft, München, Berlin 1994, , pp. 95–103. * Bernd Wippert: ''Ein „vergessenes“ Gewölbe - zu neuem Leben erweckt. Das Schatzgewölbe auf Burg Kriebstein''. In: Sächsische Schlösserverwaltung (Hrsg.): ''Jahrbuch 1995 der Staatlichen Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten in Sachsen''. Dresden o. J., pp. 179–183. * Wolfgang Schwabenickv: ''Die Anfänge der Burg und Herrschaft Kriebstein''; in: Schwabenickv, Wolfgang (Hrsg.): Archäologie und Baugeschichte – Forschungsberichte aus dem Landkreis Hainichen, Mittweida 1994, pp. 5–16. * Bernd Wippert, Gabriele Wippert: ''Burg Kriebstein'' (= ''DKV-Kunstführer''. Nr. 548). München, Berlin (2000). * Bernd Wippert: ''Das Kriebsteinzimmer auf Burg Kriebstein''. In: Sächsische Schlösserverwaltung im Landesamt für Finanzen (Hrsg.): ''Jahrbuch der Staatlichen Schlösser, Burgen und Gärten in Sachsen''. Band 7. Dresden 2001, pp. 30–37. * Peter Petersen, Bernd Wippert: ''Burg Kriebstein. Ein Architekturführer.'' Leipzig 2004, . * Peter Petersen, Bernd Wippert: ''Burg Kriebstein. Vom Wandel niederadliger Wohnvorstellungen im 15. Jahrhundert''. In: ''Burgenbau im späten Mittelalter II'' (= ''Forschungen zu Burgen und Schlössern''. Band 12). Wartburg-Gesellschaft, München, Berlin 2009, , pp. 79–94. * Annette Binninger: ''Der Schatz von Kriebstein kehrt heim nach Ostpreußen''. In: ''Sächsische Zeitung''. Ausgabe vom 13./14. February 2010.

External links

Website of Kriebstein Castle

Old and new perspectives of Kriebstein Castle

Dresden-Bilder.de - Kriebstein Castle

Burg Kriebstein
auf der Seit
dickemauern.de

Ehrenberg Castle - high above the River Zschopau, immediately opposite Kriebstein Castle
{{Authority control Castles in Saxony Rock castles Buildings and structures in Mittelsachsen