Stolpen (; , ) is a town in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge, in Saxony, Germany. It is a historical town, that grew at the foot of the Schloßberg with the castle Burg Stolpen.
Burg Stolpen
Burg Stolpen is a castle built on top of the Schloßberg. The first defensive works were built about 1100 and it was first documented in 1222. Owned by the Bishop of Meißen for nearly 350 years, it passed to the Electorate of Saxony and was expanded in Renaissance style. In 1675 it was further expanded as a fortress. Anna Constantia von Brockdorff, Countess of Cosel, was imprisoned in the castle from 1716 until her death in 1765. The castle fell into disrepair towards the end of the 18th century. It became a museum in 1875, and has been partly restored since then.
Schloßberg
Schloßberg is a hill just to the south of the town formed of prominent basalt columns. It is the formation referred to by Georgius Agricola when he coined the term basalt.
Historical population ca. 1330 – 500 ca. 1550 – 725 1559 – 122 (property owners) 1748 – 146 (property owners) 1799 – 706* 1834 – 1220 1871 – 1383 1890 – 1401 1910 – 1741 1925 – 1833 1950 – 2913 1964 – 2705 1970 – 2549 1990 – 5890 1998 – 6217 2004 – 6196 2007 – 5988 2010 – 5793 * over 10 years old
Twin towns – sister cities Stolpen is twinned with:
Hilzingen, Germany Amöneburg, Germany Garching an der Alz, Germany Jockgrim, Germany Sipplingen, Germany Sloup v Čechách, Czech Republic
Notable people Walter von Boetticher (1853–1945), historian and physician, was a general practitioner at Stolpen The Doll Family, a circus sideshow act, were born in Stolpen Christian Friedrich Henrici, also known as Picander, Bach's librettist (St Matthew Passion's text was written by him) was born here.
References
External links
(in German and English) Burg Stolpen (in German)