Water Castle Tauchritz: A Former Manor House in Germany
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.2
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Germany
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Castle
On this page5 sections
History
Early Ownership
Water Castle Tauchritz is a former manor house in Germany, located in Tauchritz, now part of Görlitz, near Berzdorfer See. The associated manor was first documented in 1306, when it belonged to Nikol von Neuershove, an Erbrichter, a hereditary local judicial and administrative official.
Between 1349 and 1422, the estate was held by the Bieberstein noble family of Friedland. Its representatives included Friedrich von Bieberstein, an influential member of the family. In 1422, the von Gersdorf family acquired the estate.
The von Warnsdorf Estate
Georg von Warnsdorf purchased the castle and the Tauchritz estate in 1611 for 25,000 thalers. The property remained with the von Warnsdorf family until 1749. A fire in 1683 destroyed the castle and eleven other buildings, after which Maria Sidonia von Warnsdorf commissioned a rebuilding in 1686–1687 on the earlier foundation walls.
In 1749, the estate was sold to the noblewomen’s foundation of Joachimstein, a secular institution for unmarried noblewomen. A different chronology places its direct acquisition by Joachim Sigismund von Ziegler and Klipphausen before 1734. Old registers still listed the founder’s family as owner in 1857. In 1863, the property was described as a castle with an associated estate farm, although no evidence established it as a conventional manor. Around 1870, the estate covered approximately 250 hectares.
State Ownership and Later Use
After 1945, the property was expropriated and became state-owned. Among its later uses was a school, which continued until the building was abandoned in 1987. Water Castle Tauchritz is now privately owned and requires substantial restoration.
Remains
Water Castle Tauchritz stands near the northern edge of Tauchritz, close to Berzdorfer See. The castle was constructed on oak piles driven into marshy ground. Water ditches partly surrounded the building, helping to prevent the piles from drying out, and water still surrounds the rebuilt castle on three sides.
The present castle is a simple, massive quadrangular structure in the Classical-Baroque style, which combines Baroque elements with restrained, symmetrical classical design. Its surviving form belongs to the rebuilding commissioned after the 1683 fire, while the structure occupies the foundation walls of the earlier castle. The building remains privately owned and is in need of extensive restoration.
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