Schloss Wurschen, Baroque château in Weißenberg, Germany
Schloss Wurschen is a rendered masonry building with a mansard hipped roof and bat dormers, set in the village of Wurschen in the Saxon Oberlausitz. Its north side has a three-axis central riser with a segmental-arched entrance portal, while the five-axis narrow side has a rectangular entrance. Bridges of rubble masonry span the water moat in front of both portals.
A water castle stood here as early as the 11th century; the estate was first recorded in 1486 and raised to a knight's estate in 1527. The present late-Baroque palace was built between 1701 and 1708, or according to other sources in 1720, for Rudolph Wilhelm von Ziegler und Klipphausen. Napoleon spent the night of 16–17 July 1807 here, and in May 1813 the palace served as headquarters of the Prussian army before the Battle of Bautzen.
The château is part of an estate complex that reflects Saxon noble architecture of its era. Visitors can still observe the medieval water-filled moats that surround the property today.
The main building has been privately inhabited since about 1997 and contains one holiday flat; several outbuildings are rented and also lived in. The house is a listed monument, so visits are limited to the exterior. Two rubble-stone bridges cross the water ditch to the rectangular entrance on the five-axis narrow side and to the segmental-arched portal of the north risalit.
The manor was first mentioned in 1486 as the property of the lords of Kittlitz and Luzan, and was raised to the status of Rittergut in 1527. After 1945 it was to be demolished, but the villagers' resistance prevented this; around 1955 it was renovated and used as a kindergarten, library and grocery shop.
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