“Our castle was first mentioned in a document of the year 1195. That was in the great time of knights and damsels – maybe you’ve heard about King Richard of Lionheart or Robin Hood out of a book or the TV?

Rochsburg Castle sits on a 50-meter high mountain ledge above the valley. This place was perfect because from high up the big rock you could see enemies from far away. In the Middle Ages, castle owners also cleaned the mountainsides from trees and bushes to see even better. A river called “Mulde” flows around the castle on 3 different sides. Only the side to the village was unprotected. Because of that, people dug out a deep ditch and built a stone bridge above it. At its end, they made a drawbridge out of wood, which could be pulled up when there was danger. Then the castle was completely secure. At that time, the castle only consisted of a big, round tower, a few houses and a big wall all around.

Maybe you wonder, who lived there. Many different types of people … The owner changed several times until it fell into the hands of a man called Hugold von Schleinitz. He was a high official of the elector of Saxony. Hugold was his Hofmarschall, the mightiest man at the Saxon court. He watched over the belongings and the money of the elector. He had a lot of money himself, so he paid others to convert the Rochsburg into a modern castle. To do so, he hired the best builder in all of Saxony at that time. His name was Arnold of Westphalia. He had the idea to connect the free-standing houses to a square courtyard. But just a few years after the castle was finished, it was destroyed by a big fire. The people in the kitchen didn’t watch out. The flames spread so fast that not even the water of the well could put it out. Luckily, our Rochsburg Castle was rebuild. The Schönburg family lived here for the longest time. Rochsburg Castle was their home for 400 years. They were a very important family with their own little army, own money, villages and forests. Lots of people worked for them – like in the fairy tale “Puss in Boots”. That’s my favourite fairy tale, even though the cat of the castle is always teasing me.”