Residence Hartenfels Castler | Schloss Hartenfels

RESIDENCE WITH WORLD HISTORY

Martin Luther, Lucas Cranach, Emperor Charles V, Heinrich Schütz, Tsar Peter I and Napoleon – Hartenfels Castle is closely associated with numerous historical personages and momentous events.

The political centre of the Reformation

Martin Luther

The life and work of Martin Luther, as well as the successful course of the Reformation, are inextricably linked with Torgau and Hartenfels Castle. Martin Luther stayed in Torgau on more than 60 occasions and, as an adviser to the Elector, helped shape Torgau’s image as the political centre of the Reformation.

Luther’s notes contain a quote from 1540 that testifies to the reformer’s deep attachment to Torgau. On 12 August, he writes: “I am weary of the city (Wittenberg) and do not wish to return.” Following a conversation between the reformer and Matthäus Ratzeberger in Torgau, he returned to Wittenberg.

On 5 October 1544, the Reformer preached at Hartenfels Castle on the occasion of the inauguration of the new castle chapel. It was the first and only time that Luther dedicated a new church building that had been erected specifically for Protestant worship.

This official business was one of Luther’s final visits to Hartenfels Castle. He had previously been summoned to Torgau on numerous occasions at the behest of the Elector of Wittenberg – four times in 1532 alone, first to the Elector’s deathbed and finally for the reading of the will of Elector John the Steadfast.

Portrait Martin Luther — Lucas Cranach d.Ä.: Martin Luther (1483-1546). Original: Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

The wedding castle

Tsar Peter the Great

From the 16th to the early 18th century, Hartenfels Castle was one of the most popular wedding venues for the Saxon Electors, thanks to its size and opulent furnishings. Between 1500 and 1711, 10 marriages of the Saxon Electors took place here. The ceremonies usually lasted several days and sometimes involved several hundred guests from the highest ranks of the nobility and thousands of horses, all of whom had to be provided with food and lodging.

Most recently, in 1711, the Russian Tsar Peter the Great attended the wedding of his son Alexei to Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. The bride had been brought up at the court of the Saxon Electress Eberhardine, the wife of Augustus the Strong. During his stay, the Tsar himself lodged in the former Electoral Chancellery, now the City Museum.

Portrait Zar Peter I. — Zar Peter I., Emailmedaillon, 1712, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Grünes Gewölbe

Festung und Kaserne

Napoleon

At the end of the Seven Years’ War, one of the bloodiest battles of the 18th century happened on the Süptitz Heights, just outside the town gates. Years earlier, Torgau Castle already had been neglected as a Saxon royal residence in favour of more modern Baroque-style buildings, and was eventually used to house marginalised groups in society.

The castle and town regained their strategic importance during the Napoleonic Wars as a Saxon-Napoleonic fortress. In 1811, at the behest of Napoleon Bonaparte, Frederick Augustus I, King of Saxony, ordered the construction of Torgau Fortress. As part of this, Hartenfels Castle was converted into a military barracks. Unfortunately, the hoped-for success failed to materialise, and so the French troops surrendered in December under the pressure of a siege by the Prussian army that had lasted several weeks.

Following the Congress of Vienna, Torgau became part of Prussia in 1815. Its strategic location now necessitated the expansion of Torgau Palace as part of the Prussian border fortifications against Saxony. Above all, the wars, looting and alterations of the 18th and 19th centuries led to the loss of the original interior furnishings and significant changes to the building’s structure, and have had a decisive influence on the appearance of Torgau Castle to this day.

Second World War

Encounter in 1945

On April 25, 1945, American soldiers made contact with Soviet troops near Torgau via the blown-up Elbe bridge. Earlier, an American second lieutenant had hoisted a makeshift American flag from a window of the Bottle Tower in Torgau Castle to signal the peaceful meeting of the Allies.

The photo of their handshake, staged the following day, went around the world and became a symbol of the end of the Second World War. The photograph of this historic meeting features in history books across the globe. Every year in Torgau, a wide-ranging commemorative event, ‘ELBE DAY’, marks this meeting.