Park and Castle Lichtenwalde

Niederwiesa, Germany, Germany

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Park and Castle Lichtenwalde is a stunning Baroque palace complex perched on a rocky spur above the Zschopau Valley in Niederwiesa, Saxony, Germany, originating from a 13th-century medieval fortress built by the Margraves of Meissen.

Count Christoph Heinrich von Watzdorf demolished most of the old structures between 1722 and 1726 to erect the current three-winged palace—a minister of Augustus the Strong's court—while his son laid out the 10-hectare park from 1730, featuring over 300 fountains, themed gardens, pavilions, and panoramic vistas.

Passing to the Counts von Vitzthum von Eckstädt until 1945 expropriation, it endured looting, wartime uses, and GDR repurposing as a health facility before state restoration from 1999 opened it in 2010 as a museum with ethnological artifacts, silhouette collections, a 15th-century chapel boasting a Donati organ, opulent salons, and event space.