Wasserschloss Oberau

Niederau, Germany, Germany

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Wasserschloss Oberau, one of Saxony's oldest surviving moated castles, sits on an island amid a pond near the Elbe River in Niederau, Germany, with origins tracing to a fortified tower built in 1274 and first mentioned as a lord's seat in 1276 under Ulricus de Ouwa.

The von Miltitz family acquired it in 1433, transforming it into a Renaissance-style residence between 1550 and 1594 with elongated wings, prominent gables, and a drawbridge added in 1553, while later owners like von Werthern in 1817 and von Arnim in 1865 added neo-Gothic elements to the tower and park laid out as an English landscape garden from 1807.

Expropriated in 1945 during land reforms, it served agricultural uses before gaining monument protection in 1937 and now stands as a picturesque landmark with preserved medieval core and Renaissance features, supported by preservation efforts.