Tharandt Castle

Topography

The northeast-southwest-facing gneiss spur, which is extremely favorable for the construction of a castle, lies at the confluence of the Wilder Weißeritz and Schloitzbach streams and widens to the southwest into a wooded ridge on which part of the forest botanical garden is located. The rows of houses of the town of Tharandt, which emerged from a craftsmen's settlement, extend along the foot of the mountain spur in the narrow valleys of the streams. Originally, the castle probably served to protect the border between the Margraviate of Meissen and the Burggraviate of Dohna.

Image Source O. Braasch, Luftbild © LfA 1998

History of the castle

The first confirmed written evidence of the existence of a castle in Tharandt dates back to 1216 when a castle governor Boriwo[i] de Tharant is mentioned as a witness in a document, although the castle is most likely older. The castle is of great importance for the history of the region from the second half of the 15th century. With the marriage of Duke Albrecht (1443-1500) and Sidonia (1449-1510), the daughter of the Bohemian King Georg Podiebrad (1420-1471), the castle came back into the possession of the Wettins as a dowry in 1459. From 1476 onwards, Duke Albrecht's wife is documented to have frequently stayed at the castle, and after her husband's death, she lived there permanently. After Sidonia's death in 1510, the castle began to decline and was repaired once again in 1562. In 1568, the castle was probably destroyed by a lightning strike and later used as a quarry. Today, the ruins still dominate the townscape and adorn the town's coat of arms.

Image Source Wappen Tharandt, § 5 Abs. 1 UrhG.

Research history

In 1974, a working group from the Cultural Association of the GDR began researching and securing the castle ruins in Tharandt. The work was primarily aimed at clarifying the ground plan of the castle and began in an innovative way for the time: with the help of all available geophysical investigation methods, the buried walls, some of which had only been demolished in the 18th/19th century, were localized and deliberately exposed or cleared of rubble. No archaeological excavations in the modern sense took place, only a few sondage sections were made by the excavation technician Arndt Gühne of the State Museum of Prehistory.

Image Source OA 37830, 228, Dokument © LfA

Structure of the castle

The castle complex is divided into two parts: To the west, on the highest part of the spur, are the ruins of the palace, which was subsequently given Gothic window and balcony extensions during the various phases of the castle's reconstruction as well as the restoration in 1821. The outer bailey to the north-east is separated from the core castle by a moat and today is mainly characterized by the mountain church, which also contains spolia from the castle complex.

Image Source OA 37830, 422, Plan © LfA

Finds

During the excavation, numerous finds were recovered, especially ceramics, the majority of which date back to the 15th century and come from goblet pots, a strikingly large number of stick cups, which can be classified as representative tableware, as well as kiln tiles. There are also numerous fragments of stoneware, earthenware and clay-glazed earthenware from the 19th century. These finds may be connected with the first renovation or renewed utilization. The oldest finds were recovered in sondage sections in the Oberburg/Palas: fragments of pots with beaded rims made of salmon to pink earthenware with a light gray core, which date to the late 12th to the first half of the 13th century and thus outline the founding period of the castle.

Image Source OA 37830, 222, Foto © LfA

Oven tiles

Particularly noteworthy are the numerous tile finds, ranging from vascular tiles to late Gothic and Renaissance relief tiles. The late Gothic tiles show strong influences from Bohemia. It is unclear whether they are imports. The motifs on the tiles range from biblical themes, such as the Fall of Man or the Adoration of the Magi, to architectural motifs (tracery windows) and ancient fables. The parallels with the finds from the Peter-Ulrich-Haus in Pirna are remarkable.

Image Source 3D-Scan ©LfA 2021.

Link archaeo | 3D

Duchess Sidonia in Tharandt

The question of whether these tiles come from a stove in the ducal chambers and are therefore mirrors of Sidonia's origin remains open. In connection with the expansion of the castle in 1476/77, it is likely that tiled stoves were installed/rebuilt or demolished, but also relocated, the shape of which cannot be clearly determined from the finds. The tiles could have been present even before the castle was used by Albrecht and Sidonie. The absence of high-quality pieces, as would be expected in a ducal household, is striking. It is possible that a representative stove - if present - was moved from the castle to a new location or was not found. The finds give us a glimpse of life in a ducal castle, but without being able to attribute them with absolute certainty to a historical figure.

Image Source S. Bilz, Luftbild © LfA 2024.