Gröditz Castle and Pilgrims' Hostel Refugio Santa Martha

Schloss Gröditz looks back on a long chronicle of owners who held high offices in Saxon history. The castle is located in a manor complex, which includes a 1,200-year-old Sorbian rampart as well as former farm buildings and a pretty park.Within the castle park you will find the pilgrim hostel Refugio Santa Martha, which invites you to linger with its generous amount of space. There is a shower and toilets, washing machine and a fireplace. There are five beds available and there is even WiFi. What more does the wandering heart want?

The Gröditz manor house was built in its current form in 1738 and sits enthroned on the edge of the steep northern slope of the Skala in the eastern part of the village. The old ski jump is also located in the castle garden. From the Gröditzer Castle the manorial rule over the place and some surrounding villages was exercised.The manor seems to have belonged to a von Porsitz family in the 13th and 14th centuries. [1] Your coat of arms is attached to the church in Gröditz. It then came to a von Klüx family who built the castle around 1222. At the beginning of the 15th century, the estate was passed on to the von Maxen family who were related by marriage and held it until the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. Various successive lines of the von Gersdorff family followed, who owned it until 1896. In that year Clara von Krauss bought the manor, the daughter of the Dresden industrialist Traugott Bienert. In 1920 the son Rudolf von Krauss took over. In 1921 the castle burned down in part and was rebuilt in 1922-24 by the architect and castle restorer Bodo Ebhardt and an arbor was added. The widow Gerda von Krauss, née von Zenker, was expropriated in 1945. The building then housed refugees, was since 1949 a tuberculosis sanatorium and later a branch of the Großschweidnitz specialist hospital. In 2006 Gerda von Krauss' great-nephew, Beat von Zenker zu Pommritz, initiated a foundation. Since April 2007 the Förderverein pro Gröditz e.V. has been committed to preserving the castle together with Beat von Zenker and in 2008 was able to save the Gröditzer Skala nature reserve from a partial sale.Source: Wikipedia

Georg Rudolf von Gersdorf was Royal Saxon High Court Marshal. He rebuilt the castle in its current baroque style in 1872.