Schloss Promnitz
Please note: This page was machine-translated. If anything is unclear, the German version is authoritative.
A thousand years of Promnitz history
Promnitz developed from a former Slavic fishing settlement and was first mentioned in a document in 1197, together with a ferry. Since then, the ferry has connected the town with the city of Riesa on the opposite bank, an original monastery complex whose nuns founded one of the two outbuildings on the Promnitz side.
Around the year 1000, fortified towers were built along the Elbe to secure the borders. One of these defensive towers was converted into a knight's residence, which was home to the ancient noble family of Promnitz.
In 1430, this family left their ancestral seat and settled in Lower Lusatia.
In 1432, Anna von Köckeritz was enfeoffed with Promnitz in the absence of her husband Caspar.
In 1603, Rudolph von Köckeritz built a new wing of the castle with a stair tower in the Renaissance style, whereupon his relatives, the von Taupadel family, built a parallel building with the same exterior. Both houses were connected by an existing central wing with cross-vaulted rooms and cellars.
In 1706, the Saxon Major General of the Cavalry, Friedrich Albrecht von Wolffersdorff, married the heiress of Promnitz, Magdalena Florentina von Lüttichau. In 1728, at the behest of his elector, Augustus II the Strong, he had the central section rebuilt in the Baroque style, creating a three-winged castle complex.
In 1730, Augustus II the Strong held his famous Zeithain Camp, a magnificent military parade with weeks of maneuvers, parades, and field exercises by the entire Saxon army. The finale and highlight was to be a gigantic fireworks display on the Elbe, which he wanted to watch with his guests from the windows of Schloss Promnitz (Promnitz Castle).
Thus, in addition to princes, counts, barons, and high-ranking officers, the ballroom and adjoining rooms were also occupied by three kings, namely Augustus II the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, Frederick William I of Prussia, known as the Soldier King, and his son Frederick II, later called Frederick the Great.
In 1735, Wilhelmine Eleonora von Wolffersdorff married Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel) Carl Gottlieb von Thielau. In order to manage the manor more economically, he built an elongated stable building on the left wing of the castle in 1746, which greatly changed the overall appearance. After the great ice flood (Eisflut) of 1784, which even destroyed the church in Röderau, the Thielaus built an Elbe dam protection with a wall in 1821.
When the last Thielau died without a male heir in 1832, the manor was purchased by three interested bourgeois parties, of whom Julius Maximilian Starke took sole ownership in 1860. His daughter Elise Clementine became the wife of Karl Christian Gustav Graf von Schimmelmann, whose first two sons were born in Promnitz. However, in 1873, the property passed into other hands.
The new owners were the Rudolph family of Dresden bankers, who expanded Promnitz into a model estate with 159 hectares of land. In 1920, the inspector's house was built for one of the married sons. After World War II, the family was expropriated without compensation in 1945 and had to leave their property.
At the same time, over 30 displaced families from Silesia were housed in the castle and its outbuildings. In the small Renaissance hall on the lower floor, a consumer store was set up to supply all the castle residents and inhabitants of the village. Nevertheless, Promnitz was gradually abandoned by the resettlers in the following decades.
After reunification, an investor from Württemberg purchased the entire castle complex in 1997 with big plans for it. Unfortunately, he did not invest anything, so the buildings fell into disrepair.
The floods in 2002 and 2013 also inundated the manor complex, but did not cause any major damage.
Years of vacancy had caused the deterioration to progress dramatically. Direct descendants of Friedrich Albrecht von Wolffersdorff observed this with great concern and, in 2013, joined forces with other interested parties to found a citizens' initiative to save Promnitz Castle. Together, they began initial cleanup work and made temporary repairs.
In 2014, the Kultur- und Schlossverein Promnitz a. d. Elbe e.V. was founded and organized events such as concerts, readings, and Advent markets.
With the support of the Amt für Denkmalschutz, repair work began in 2016 on the collapsed hall and the open bay window above it in order to secure this important cultural and historical monument and preserve it for the public.
Source: M. von Wolffersdorff
Photographies: Familie von Wolffersdorff