Dittersbach Castle

The place was founded as a Waldhufendorf (forest-strip village) during the German Ostsiedlung (eastern settlement) and was first mentioned in 1299 as Ditterichespach, the name going back to a locator Dietrich. A church is mentioned in the Meissen diocesan matricula in 1346. In connection with Otto Karaz de Diterispach, an entry was made in the feudal book of Frederick the Strict in 1350, which also serves as proof of a manorial seat in the village. Later documented forms of the place name are Tytrichspach (1406), Dyterichsbach (1412), Dytirsbach (1414) and by 1600 already Dittersbach. To distinguish it from other places of the same name, the addition "bei Stolpen" (near Stolpen) was also used.

For the year 1446, a Sattelhof (large farm) and a Vorwerk (outlying farm) are documented. The electoral chancellor Hieronymus Kiesewetter bought the Dittersbach manor in 1554, along with the associated villages of Eschdorf, Wünschendorf, and Bonnewitz. From 1555, he had the castle built, thereby building over a previous moated castle.

On April 25, 1559, Kiesewetter granted the Dresden papermaker Hieronymus Schaffhirt the right to build a paper mill on the Wesenitz in Dittersbach. Four years after the paper mill was re-established, it burned down in 1859. During GDR times, an industrial enterprise was set up in the rebuilt paper factory.

After several changes of ownership of the manor, Johann Gottlob von Quandt acquired it in 1829 with the villages of Eschdorf, Dürrröhrsdorf, Rossendorf, and Zeschnig. In honor of Goethe, the Goethe admirer had a belvedere built by Joseph Thürmer on the "Schöne Höhe" (Beautiful Hill) from 1831–1833, which Carl Gottlieb Peschel decorated with frescoes depicting Goethe's ballads from 1836 onwards.

The castle was sold from the Quandt family estate to the Leuschner family in 1883. They had it rebuilt in 1885/1886, giving it its wing buildings. The city of Dresden bought the castle in 1925 and had a recreation home set up in it.