Curtain arch windows, cell vaults, looped rib vaults, and the balconies richly decorated with sculptures on the Grosser Wendelstein. Where have you seen this before? Albrechtsburg Castle shows architectural styles from the late Gothic to the Renaissance that are almost unparalleled in their diversity. And with features that are only found here.
The fact that this was created here and has been preserved to this day is a stroke of luck or a special case in history. The Wettin family, which provided the Margraves of Meissen and the Landgraves of Thuringia, was also given the Duchy of Saxony (-Wittenberg) in 1423, which was associated with the title of Elector. The name Saxony "migrated" from the Middle Elbe around Wittenberg further south. In 1471, the grandchildren of the first Saxon Elector from the Wettin dynasty, Ernst and Albrecht, commissioned a new residential castle as the central seat of government for the state, which was huge by the standards of the time. At the same time, Arnold von Westfalen was a brilliant architect. Even though Ernst and Albrecht planned to rule together when they came to power in 1464, it did not stay that way. In 1485, the country was divided. Construction of the castle, later known as Albrechtsburg, was halted. Construction work was not provisionally completed until 1521. The castle never became a splendid residence. From 1710 to 1863 it was even used industrially as the headquarters of the first European porcelain factory. Over the next 20 years, the building was restored. The interior was decorated with extensive historical paintings depicting events in Meissen-Thuringia-Saxony history, which can still be viewed as a museum today.