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Music in the monastery park
Altzella Monastery Park
The Cistercians’ Legacy
Mausoleum of the Wettins
n the wake of the Reformation, Lutheran sovereigns expelled the monks
I from the monasteries. The Cistercian abbey of Altzella, which had
been one of the most important monasteries in central Germany until
then, was also dissolved. The complex, which had been in operation since
1175, fell into disrepair, and stones from the buildings were removed and
used elsewhere. The more than one thousand precious books were donated
to the University of Leipzig. Yet, since Altzella was a hereditary burial
place of the Wettin dynasty, the Dresden court’s interest in the site never
completely waned. Elector Frederick Augustus III built a mausoleum
here in 1787, in the style of Early Classicism. Court gardener Johann
Gottfried Huebler surrounded the quiet, mint green tomb with a romantic
landscape park. Before long, painters such as Caspar David Friedrich and
Ludwig Richter sought inspiration in the mystical landscape with its ancient
pointed arches, sturdy gables and broken pillars. What fascinated the
Romantics can still be felt today.
The ruins of the Altzella Monastery
Altzella Monastery Park
Zellaer Strasse 10, 01683 Nossen
Telephone +49 (0) 3 52 42 5 04 50
altzella@schloesserland-sachsen.de
www.kloster-altzella.de
Directions
By car via A 14 exit Nossen-Nord or Nossen-Ost, via A 4 exit Siebenlehn towards Nossen
By public transportation bus lines 424 and 750 to Zella Waldheimer Strasse
9
Altzella
Monastery
Park