Moritzburg Castle

Augustus the Strong rebuilt an older hunting lodge from 1723 into a symmetrical baroque block with four round corner towers, standing on an artificial island in a lake made by damming and shaping the ground around it. The Feather Room holds a bed hanging of about a million bird feathers worked into a pattern over several years; it was rediscovered in poor condition and restored over decades. The Monströsensaal displays deformed and unusual antlers collected as curiosities. A pheasant house and a small lighthouse on an artificial lake stand in the park. The 1973 film Three Wishes for Cinderella was shot here and it is staged as a Cinderella exhibition each winter.

History

The first castle, built from 1542 to 1546, was a hunting lodge for Duke Moritz of Saxony; Elector John George II enlarged it, adding an early Baroque chapel designed by Wolf Caspar von Klengel between 1661 and 1671, which was consecrated as Catholic in 1697 after Augustus the Strong converted to secure the Polish crown. Between 1723 and 1733 Augustus had the castle remodelled as a country seat by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann and Zacharias Longuelune, with a formal park, ponds and a game preserve, and at the end of the 18th century Elector Frederick Augustus III added the Little Pheasant Castle, built between 1770 and 1776, the Well of Venus and a miniature harbour with a jetty and lighthouse on the Great Lake (Wikipedia, Moritzburg Castle).

What you'll find

• The Feather Room - a bed hanging of about a million bird feathers.
• The antler hall - a room of deformed and unusual trophy antlers.
• The island setting - a symmetrical palace on made ground in a lake.
• The Cinderella exhibition - a winter display tied to the 1973 film.

When to go

April to October; the winter Cinderella exhibition runs from November to February and is popular. The castle closes some Mondays. The steam railway from Radebeul is seasonal.

Things to know

The Feather Room has limited access to protect it. The Cinderella season crowds the castle. Some rooms close in rotation.

Nearby

Dresden lies southeast; Meissen is northwest.

Key facts