Nöthnitz Castle

Nöthnitz Castle is located in Bannewitz in the Free State of Saxony. It is situated in the village of Nöthnitz on the southern city limits of Dresden, not far from the BAB 17 (Dresden-Südvorstadt exit).

The current castle complex is based on a medieval core, whose land ownership passed from the Diocese of Meissen to the Saxon Electors in 1453. The Electors leased the property to noble families. In 1524, a manor (Rittergut) Nöthnitz is mentioned.

In 1629, Heinrich von Taube of Reichstädt, the Elector of Saxony's Lord Chamberlain and Marshal of the Court, bought Nöthnitz for 6500 guilders. Around 1630, von Taube had the Renaissance building of the castle erected by a master builder who remains unknown today.

The new building is a U-shaped three-wing complex with a main building facing northwest and two side wings. In one corner of the courtyard is an octagonal stair tower with a spiral staircase and window profiles from the first half of the 17th century. The cross vault in the ground floor of the main house also dates from the same period. A spacious farmyard adjoins the actual castle courtyard.

Nöthnitz passed into the possession of the Vitzthum von Eckstädt family in 1681. In 1739, after his marriage to Christiane von Arnim, the castle came into the possession of Heinrich Graf von Bünau, who housed his private library, comprising approximately 42,000 volumes and publicly accessible, from Dresden here starting in 1740. The Bünau Library was well-known far beyond Nöthnitz at the time; it was one of the most extensive book collections in Saxony.

The archaeologist, antiquarian, and art writer Johann Joachim Winckelmann from Stendal worked here as a librarian from 1748 to 1754. Winckelmann is considered the intellectual founder of Classicism in the German-speaking world. He assisted Bünau with his unfinished epochal historical work on German imperial history, the last volume of which concludes with the death of Conrad I in 918, but the manuscript extended to the Ottonians. Today, a commemorative plaque with Winckelmann's portrait commemorates his work.

During the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the castle was severely damaged. The son and heir of the same name, Heinrich Graf von Bünau, was forced for financial reasons to sell his father's private library to Elector Friedrich August III for 40,000 thalers in 1769. The holdings were relocated to Dresden and later formed the foundation of today's Saxon State Library - State and University Library Dresden (SLUB).

During the Wars of Liberation, Nöthnitz Castle served as the headquarters of Tsar Alexander I and Prince Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg during the Battle of Dresden on August 25/26, 1813.

Until 1945, the castle underwent several changes of ownership. In 1871, it came into the possession of the Chamberlain Baron Rudolf Carl von Finck, who had the castle rebuilt and modernized in 1872/73. This included adding an additional floor. Continuing the Bünau tradition, von Finck assembled a new library.

In 1945, the wing of the building containing the library burned out after being hit by a bomb. Following expropriation as part of the land reform, the estate was declared public property and used as an agricultural school with a boarding house.

In 1990, the castle became the property of the Free State of Saxony, which leased it to Viktor Freiherr von Finck via the Bodenverwertungs- und -verwaltungsgesellschaft (Land Utilization and Administration Company) from 1991 and sold it to him in 1997. The Free State contractually stipulated the future public use of the castle park, which features elements of a Baroque garden and an English landscape park. Viktor Freiherr von Finck founded, among other things, the association Studienstätte Schloss Nöthnitz e.V. in 1991, which is dedicated to the memory of Johann Joachim Winckelmann and Heinrich von Bünau.

Some rooms of the partially renovated castle were used as a museum (Winckelmann Memorial) with the collection of Wolfgang von Wangenheim, and as a cultural and event venue until May 2009.

The 89-year-old Baron von Finck († April 27, 2010), who was mobility-impaired after a fall, sold the castle in April 2009 due to age and illness to an Austrian-Czech entrepreneur (Jan David Horsky), who initially did not wish to be publicly named. He filed an eviction lawsuit against the Studienstätte Schloss Nöthnitz association. The buildings of the farmyard are unrenovated and are visibly decaying.

Owners

• Jenike Jawszk 1502–1509
• Franz Gauzt 1509–1524
• Georg Alnbeck 1524–1540
• Wenzel and Hieronymus Alnbeck 1540–1606
• Georg Bock 1606–1610
• Dr. Joachim Ziegler 1610–1629
• Heinrich von Taube 1629–1681
• Christoph Vitzthum von Eckstädt 1681–1712
• Gottlob Vitzthum von Eckstädt 1712–1713
• Henriette Helene Vitzthum von Eckstädt 1713–1719
• Rudolph von Bünau through marriage with Henriette Helene Vitzthum von Eckstädt 1719–1720
• Captain Johann Christoph von Wolfframsdorff 1720–1732
• Christiane Elisabeth von Arnim 1732–1739
• Heinrich von Bünau through marriage with Christiane Elisabeth von Arnim 1739–1762
• Christiane Elisabeth von Arnim 1762–1766
• Heinrich II Graf von Bünau 1766–1782
• Gottlob Benjamin von Sahr 1792–1814
• Christiane Juliane von Sahr née von Reizmann 1814–1820
• Julius Bernhard von Könneritz 1820–1871
• Rudolf Carl Freiherr von Finck 1871–1920
• Carl Freiherr von Finck 1920–1945 (Expropriation as part of the land reform)
• Public property 1945–1990
• Free State of Saxony 1990–1997
• Viktor Freiherr von Finck 1997–2009
• Jan David Horsky (Austrian-Czech entrepreneur) since April 2009 † February 18, 2012
• Marie Horska (?)