Schloss Tiefenau
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The Pflugk family of Tiefenau
In 1425, Otto Pflugk auf Frauenhain received a letter of enfeoffment from Kurfürst (elector) Friedrich dem Streitbaren granting him dominion over Tiefenau and the villages of Lichtensee and Streumen. He fought as a knight in the elector's army against the Hussites and was enfeoffed with the above-mentioned property, most likely as a token of gratitude. Just one year later, in 1426, Otto Pflugk fell in battle against the Hussites near Aussig.
The inheritance was jointly taken over by the brothers Otto, Heinze, Nickel, Dam, and Jurge until 1438; thereafter, it was held solely by Dam until his death in 1454. In 1474, Georg Pflugk received the Tiefenau estate with the outlying estate as a fief from Kurfürst Ernst and Herzog Albrecht. With the marriage (1524) of Nickel Pflugk (of Zabeltitz) and Margarethe Pflugk (of Tiefenau), the latter received the village of Wülknitz as a dower.
In 1548, Hieronymus Pflugk (died 1586) was enfeoffed with the Tiefenau outlying estate, and in 1588, Tham Pflugk of Tiefenau was appointed guardian of the Pflugks of Frauenhain. The Gut Tiefenau (Tiefenau estate) was sold to Abraham von Einsiedel in 1611. This was followed by several changes of ownership within a short period of time, and the Pflugks lost the Tiefenau property for several years.
In 1619, for example, the Saxon Elector purchased the Gut Tiefenau, including the Streumen and Gohrisch outlying estates, and appointed an administrator.
Joachim Friedrich von Dölau acquired the Tiefenau estate in 1646. From 1564 to 1689, Tiefenau was an electoral outlying estate.
It was not until 1704 that August Ferdinand von Pflugk, who was elevated to the rank of Imperial Count in 1705, bought Tiefenau back, and from then on it remained in the family's possession until 1945. Under August
Ferdinand von Pflugk (died 1712), the castle was rebuilt by 1710, farm buildings were constructed, and a park and garden in the Baroque style were laid out to the west.
In 1882, Tiefenau was inherited by Wilhelm Ewald Georg Pflugk (died 1931, Strehla line), then, after a long dispute, by his son Bernhard Gustav Georg (died 1958 in Troisdorf), and remained in the possession of the Strehla line until its expropriation in 1945.
From January to May 1920, father and son lived together in Tiefenau. In February 1921, the father separated from his son Georg (after his marriage to Marie Marguerite von Maubeuge on February 3, 1921, in the Catholic Hofkirche in Dresden) and moved to Strehla before his son moved into the Torbogenhaus in Tiefenau. The tense father-son relationship escalated when the father wrote to his son (February 18, 1926): "... After careful consideration ... I have come to the conclusion that working with you as an official in my Tiefenau business ... seems undesirable to me. I ask you ... to seek ... another sphere of activity. ..."
Only the intervention of the family association (Geschlechtsverbandes) prevented this from happening. The castle was no longer inhabited by the family.
Instead, from 1933 to 1936, it was used to house the Reich Labor Service (Department 4/150 Tiefenau), which dug and renovated the ponds and also carried out makeshift repair and restoration work on the castle building.
From 1938 to 1940, the castle was used to house forced laborers from the Gröditz steelworks, for a monthly rent of 500 Reichsmark. During the Second World War, French prisoners of war were housed in the castle.
In the course of land reform in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, the Pflugks were also expropriated.
From the end of 1945 to 1947, the manor house served as a children's home. Like many buildings at the end of the war, the manor house, church, and cemetery in Tiefenau were damaged. Due to an extremely broad interpretation of Order 209 of the Soviet occupying power by the German authorities (fate of war-damaged buildings), the manor house was demolished in the summer of 1948.
After 1990, this estate became an object of speculation. Plans for various uses followed, but none of them came to fruition.
It was not until 2008 that an investor became interested in the former Tiefenau manor. Now the “Resort Rittergut Tiefenau” project is being developed and purposefully prepared for implementation.
Schloss Tiefenau
Tiefenau was assigned to the Diocese of Meissen by Emperor Heinrich II in 1013 and is considered one of the oldest estates of German settlement in our region. At that time, there was a fortification (motte-and-bailey castle) east of today's manor.
In 1704, August Ferdinand von Pflugk (Imperial Count in 1705) purchased the Tiefenau manor and had a new castle built, which formed the northern end of a large farmyard. The three-story building with a mansard roof was finished on the courtyard side with a segmental arch gable, to which the coats of arms of the Counts of Pflugk and Stubenberg were attached. On the garden side, the internal staircase was designed as a risalit.
The exterior of the manor was adorned with numerous Baroque decorative elements (capitals, pilaster strips). The entrance on the courtyard side led into a vestibule with rooms on the left and right.
On the garden side, a three-flight staircase led to the two upper floors, which were topped by two female figures made of sandstone.
The castle was demolished in the summer of 1948. The adjacent farm buildings, once acquired as speculative properties by the Treuhandanstalt, are now mostly ruins ready for demolition.
The garden
The strictly structured garden is rounded off to the northeast and was formerly surrounded by a moat. The main axis running north from the castle and the transverse axis intersect at the fountain in the middle of the garden. The fountain consists of a rock-like base (substructure) in a sandstone water basin. On this base, a pillar decorated with volutes, shells, and grotesque faces supports a basin decorated with pine cones. The three cherubs sitting above enclose the basin. This square is bordered by four garden sheds.
At the intersections of the secondary axes are four life-size water-spouting tritons made of sandstone, representing the four seasons. The sculptures were created in 1962 by the Dresden sculptor Werner Hempel, who also created twelve Baroque benches for the rose garden. After 1996, maintenance work was carried out in the rose garden and on the surrounding wall; the planting was also supplemented or renewed.
The manor chapel
In 1716/17, August Ferdinand's widow Elisabeth Fredericke von Pflugk, née Countess zu Stubenberg und Kapfenberg, had a new chapel built in the Italian-French High Baroque style (east of the castle) in the castle gardens. The castle chapel near the sheepfold (northwest of the castle), which had been mentioned as early as 1661 and was in dire need of repair, was demolished.
The new chapel is a rectangular building (hall church) with a mansard roof and a ridge turret (reconstructed in 1965) with a lantern. This building is attributed to the Dresden master builder George Bähr. The magnificent interior is adorned with a richly ornamented stucco ceiling. The Baroque altar is believed to be the work of Johann Christian Kirchner, while the pulpit and baptismal font are by Benjamin Thomae. The organ is said to be a work from the workshop of Gottfried Silbermann.
Emergency repairs were carried out on the roof in 1945, followed by reconstruction in 1965.
Further maintenance and restoration work was carried out in and on the chapel. Extensive renovation of the castle chapel, including the organ, took place from 1990 to 1997.
In front of the chapel are the graves of the Pflugk family of Tiefenau.
Authors: H.-J. Pflug, Adelebsen; D. Enge, Treugeböhla
Photos: Dietmar Enge, Treugeböhla
Photo captions (in order of appearance):
Bild 5: tiefenau-2
Schloss Tiefenau, Gartenseite, um 1930, Postkarte, Verlag Wilhelm Klettner, Gröditz, Sammlung D. Enge, Treugeböhla
Bild 6: rosengarten-2
Pavillons im Garten, 2017, Foto: D. Enge, Treugeböhla
Bild 7: altar
Schlosskapelle Tiefenau, Altar, 2012, Foto: D. Enge, Treugeböhla