Altzella Abbey

In 1162 Emperor Frederick I acquired 800 Hufen of cleared land from a monastery founded by Otto II, Margrave of Meissen, some of which was exchanged after the discovery of silver in 1168.

In 1217 supervision of the Abbey of the Holy Cross (Kloster Heilig Kreuz) in Meissen, a Benedictine nunnery, was entrusted to the abbot of Zelle.

As early as 1190, when Otto of Meissen died and was entombed here, the abbey served as the burial place of the Wettins, for which purpose the Andreaskapelle ("St Andrew's Chapel") was later built, between 1339 and 1349.

Under Augustus, Elector of Saxony, and no later than 1557, large parts of the buildings, which were in poor condition, were demolished and the materials reused elsewhere.

Between 1676 and 1787 the Electors of Saxony disinterred the remains of their ancestors and had them re-buried in a memorial chapel, the present-day Mausoleum.