Lauterstein Castle

Lauterstein Castle, also known as Niederlauterstein Castle Ruin, is a medieval hilltop castle in Niederlauterstein, a district of Marienberg in the Erzgebirgskreis of the Free State of Saxony. Since the Thirty Years' War, it has been a castle ruin. The Lauterstein Castle Ruin is located on a prominent gneiss rock at the exit of Niederlauterstein, above the left bank of the Schwarze Pockau near Zöblitz. The designation Niederlauterstein Castle Ruin was also common in the past.

The stone castle complex was the center of power and served to protect the medieval trade and pass road from Leipzig over the Ore Mountains ridge to Prague. Archaeological investigations in the 1970s confirmed a period of origin in the second half of the 12th century. The first documented mention was in 1304. After the Schellenberg Feud and the loss of power of the Lords of Schellenberg (today Augustusburg), Margrave Frederick the Brave of Meissen enfeoffed Burgrave Albrecht von Altenburg and Otto von Leisnig with Lauterstein Castle and the town of Zcobelin (Zöblitz) in 1323. The administrators of the castle at that time were the Lords of Schellenberg.

In 1434, Kaspar von Berbisdorf, from the Saxon noble family of Berbisdorf, bought the Lauterstein dominion from Burgraves Otto von Leisnig and Albrecht von Altenburg for 4,000 guilders. In 1497, the castle complex was divided by the descendants of the Berbisdorf family into Ober- and Niederlauterstein. In 1559, Elector August of Saxony came into possession of Lauterstein Castle and dominion and established the seat of a Saxon electoral office here. The castle is said to have been set on fire by three Swedish horsemen on March 14, 1639. After that, it was not rebuilt and remained a ruin.