The ruins of the old castle are located on the hill of Schlossberg near the subsequent suburb of the town of the same name, Dohna, in the district of Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge in Saxony, Germany.

They had the task of guarding the important trade route between Saxony and Bohemia, hold the conquered and subjugated Sorbs in serfdom and their Christianization by protecting emissaries of the Catholic Church.

Dohna Castle was first mentioned in records in 1040 in connection with the conflicts between King Henry III (1039–1056) and Duke Bretislaus of Bohemia.

The Margravate of Meissen under Eckard II (1038–1046) held Dohna Castle presumably as an imperial fief of the Holy Roman Empire.

[3] It is also known that the family of the Erkenbertingers (recorded as burgraves in 1113) came from Franconia, established themselves in the vicinity of Naumburg and that their relatively junior Starkenberg line played a role in the Ore Mountains, for example in land development (Landausbau).

It was here that the Dohnaer Schöppenstuhl [de] was held, a magistrate's court (Schöffengericht) recorded since 1390 that operated until 1572, predominantly in the field of feudal and inheritance matters and gave legal direction over an area that extended far beyond the borders of Saxony.

[9] From autumn 1401 onwards the castle was besieged and, after lengthy resistance, was taken by storm on 19 June 1402 in the presence of Margrave William I the One-Eyed (1349/79–1407).

In addition, the townsfolk of Dohna in subsequent times, may have helped themselves to large amounts of stone from the castle for building material whenever it was needed.

M. Christian Bartsch, pastor in Dohna, wrote in 1735: ...on this castle hill you can still find the ruins of old walls, towers and vaults which have withstood the rain and weather for 330 years uncared for; but whose limestone and rock are so strong that you can only pull them down with difficulty, but which do not collapse by themselves.

This site is mentioned because, even before the settlement of the castle hill (Schlossberg), a Sorbian gord (burgwall) had stood on the Robisch Hillfort.