Hubertusburg Castle, named after the patron saint of the hunt, represents one of the most advanced achievements of Saxon Baroque architecture.
Hubertusburg Castle, named after the patron saint of the hunt, represents one of the most advanced achievements of Saxon Baroque architecture. It is the largest and formerly most magnificent lodges in Europe. The complex was built by Lieutenant Colonel Johann Christoph Naumann (1664 - 1742), who enriched the art history of the state with numerous buildings in the Saxon region, among others in Leipzig and Bautzen.
Between 1739 and 1751, a reconstruction of the main building of the castle was carried out under the direction of the ingenious Oberland master builder Johann Knöffel. It is his last building and may be considered one of his most important works.
A large number of important artists were involved in the design of Hubertusburg, for example the sculptors Lorenzo Mattielli, Benjamin Thomae and Gottfried Knöffel, the painters JB Grone, JA Pöppelmann, Chr. WE Dittrich, or the painter theorist A. F. Oeser.
The main building is especially impressive with its supposed castle tower. But in fact it is not a tower, but a high, four-sided ridge rider resting on the broad central risalit. With its almost oversized large sound holes and the onion cap, which is crowned by a jumping deer as a weathervane, it reminds one a little of the crown tower in the Dresden Zwinger, but it is much slimmer and more graceful.
Today, the intact preserved St. Hubertus Catholic chapel is the only witness to the former splendour of the castle. All other furnishings were plundered in 1761 in retaliation for the partial devastation of the Charlottenburg Berlin (by Austrian, Russian and Saxon troops in the course of the Seven Years' War) and in the subsequent years were changed.
With the peace treaties of Hubertusburg (signed between Saxony, Prussia and Austria on 15.02.1763), which ended the Seven Years' War, the name of the castle went down in European history. The end of the Seven Years' War also meant the end of the so-called "Augustinian Age" for Saxony. Just a few months after the signing of the peace treaty, Elector Friedrich August died on the 5th of October 1763.
Between 1739 and 1751, a reconstruction of the main building of the castle was carried out under the direction of the ingenious Oberland master builder Johann Knöffel. It is his last building and may be considered one of his most important works.
A large number of important artists were involved in the design of Hubertusburg, for example the sculptors Lorenzo Mattielli, Benjamin Thomae and Gottfried Knöffel, the painters JB Grone, JA Pöppelmann, Chr. WE Dittrich, or the painter theorist A. F. Oeser.
The main building is especially impressive with its supposed castle tower. But in fact it is not a tower, but a high, four-sided ridge rider resting on the broad central risalit. With its almost oversized large sound holes and the onion cap, which is crowned by a jumping deer as a weathervane, it reminds one a little of the crown tower in the Dresden Zwinger, but it is much slimmer and more graceful.
Today, the intact preserved St. Hubertus Catholic chapel is the only witness to the former splendour of the castle. All other furnishings were plundered in 1761 in retaliation for the partial devastation of the Charlottenburg Berlin (by Austrian, Russian and Saxon troops in the course of the Seven Years' War) and in the subsequent years were changed.
With the peace treaties of Hubertusburg (signed between Saxony, Prussia and Austria on 15.02.1763), which ended the Seven Years' War, the name of the castle went down in European history. The end of the Seven Years' War also meant the end of the so-called "Augustinian Age" for Saxony. Just a few months after the signing of the peace treaty, Elector Friedrich August died on the 5th of October 1763.
