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Schloss Moritzburg – history
Schloss Moritzburg lies north-west of Dresden on an island in an artificial lake. Under Augustus the Strong, a Renaissance hunting lodge became a splendid Baroque hunting and pleasure palace. It is famous for its collection of antlers, the Feather Room and as the filming location of “Three Wishes for Cinderella” (“Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel”).
From hunting lodge to Baroque palace
Duke Maurice of Saxony had a hunting lodge with four round towers built from 1542 to 1546. Under Augustus the Strong, Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann remodelled it from 1722 or 1723 – the sources differ – into a Baroque palace, with terraces, ramps and bridges all around the island. With Augustus's death in 1733 the work came to an end.
Feather Room, antlers and Cinderella
The state bed in the Feather Room is covered with around a million feathers from peacocks, pheasants, guinea fowl and ducks; after 19 years of restoration it has been on display again since 2003. In the dining hall hangs a red deer antler almost 2 metres across and weighing 19.8 kilograms. The outdoor scenes of the fairy-tale film “Three Wishes for Cinderella” (“Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel”) were shot here – in 1972 or 1973, depending on the source; in winter the palace puts on an exhibition about it with the original costumes.
Fasanenschlösschen and lighthouse
About 2 kilometres to the east stands the little Fasanenschlösschen, the Pheasant Castle, extended in the Chinese style in the 18th century. It comes with a pier, a harbour and the only historic lighthouse in Saxony, where scenes from a naval battle were once re-enacted. Until the expropriation of 1945, members of the Wettin family lived in the palace; in 1996 amateur archaeologists found some of the treasure chests buried in the park at that time.
As of: 09/2026
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