Podelwitz Castle, Water castle in Podelwitz, Colditz, Germany

Podelwitz Castle is a moated castle on the Freiberger Mulde in the Podelwitz district of Colditz, Saxony. The current building was erected around 1570 in the Saxon Renaissance style for Hans Rudolph von Schellenberg. After 1691 Ulrich Maximilian von Rechenberg moved the main entrance from the west to the east side and added a portal with his coat of arms. Today the castle houses a local history room, a guesthouse and a meeting centre; a restaurant occupies the former service building opposite.

Podelwitz was first documented in 1487, when a von Schellenberg borrowed 200 gulden from the pious brothers of Colditz; the castle and manor already existed. Around 1570 Hans Rudolph von Schellenberg had the present castle built in the Saxon Renaissance style. In 1691 Ulrich Maximilian von Rechenberg bought it, moved the main entrance from west to east and added a portal with his coat of arms. The family was expropriated in 1945.

The castle displays household items and postcards from the Knochenmuß family collection that tell stories of daily life from earlier times. Walking through these rooms, visitors see personal objects that connect them to the people who once lived here.

The castle can be reached by hiking trails, cycling routes, and river boats, with multiple access points available. Visitors planning a trip should consider seasonal conditions and river water levels, as boat access depends on these factors.

The castle's interior once held three stucco medallions depicting the myth of Io, made by Italian stuccoists for Ulrich Maximilian von Rechenberg after 1691. They adorned the flat ceilings south of the entrance hall until their destruction in the 1950s. The entrance portal he created still bears his coat of arms on the east side.