Mechelgrün Castle

Mechelgrün Water Castle, also known as Wasserschloss Mechelgrün, is the ruin of a water castle east of Theumaer Straße in the Mechelgrün district of the municipality of Neuensalz in the Vogtlandkreis in Saxony.

The water castle was built in the 12th century, first mentioned in 1267, expanded into a castle-like structure in the 14th century, and remained in the possession of the Rabe family, a collateral line of the Trautenberg family, which was widely branched in the Vogtland, until the middle of the 15th century. Johannes Rabe von Mechelgrün acquired Wildstein Castle, the ancestral seat of the Notthaft family in Egerland, from his father-in-law Engelhard Notthaft in 1298.

In 1465, the complex was destroyed, rebuilt with four corner towers, and a chapel was added to the eastern tower in 1475. After the complex burned down to its foundations in 1670, it was rebuilt around 1675 with some modifications.

After the von Rabe family, the castle passed to the Lords of Trettau and then to the Uibrig family until 1945. They were forcibly dispossessed and expelled by the communists.

During redesigns in the mid-19th century, two round towers were removed, the moat was partially filled in, and a castle pond was created by an access channel to the Rabenbach. In the 20th century, the complex fell into disrepair.