Knauthain Castle

The manor house was first mentioned in 1174. In 1289, the estate was owned by the Lords of Knuth. In 1350, ownership passed to the von Pflugk family. The estate was referred to as an outwork in 1445 and as a knight's estate in 1479. Ownership changed in 1558 to the von Schönberg family and in 1591 to the von Dieskau family.

The castle was built between 1698 and 1703 by Karl Hildebrandt von Dieskau. Due to financial difficulties, the Dieskau family had to sell the castle in 1753. The new owner was the von Hohenthal family. Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Hohenthal, who was a royal envoy at the Prussian court, had the castle renovated in 1868 and the park redesigned in the English style. During the Battle of the Nations in 1813, the Russian-Austrian War Council met in the tenant's apartment of Knauthain Castle. On October 19, 1813, the village was plundered and set on fire by Uhlans fighting on Napoleon's side.

On April 1, 1936, Knauthain was incorporated into Leipzig. The city bought the castle from Count Leo von Hohenthal und Bergen and had it converted into a public school.

In 1949, the former city estates of Knauthain and Lauer were merged to form the Volkseigenes Gut Knauthain (People's Own Estate Knauthain). After the political change in the GDR, the 400-hectare estate was returned by the Treuhandanstalt to the city of Leipzig in 1992. A leisure park was created in the vicinity of the castle. In 1996/97, the estate was reconstructed and renovated in accordance with monument preservation guidelines, and an agricultural business was established according to ecological principles. Gut Knauthain was part of the EXPO 2000 sub-project "Ecological City Estates Leipzig". In 2003, the estate was privatized. A part was sold to an equestrian stud farm, the rest to an organic farmer.