[1] The castle is located on a spur above the river Freiberger Mulde, at the northern edge of the town of Leisnig proper and opposite the village of Fischendorf.

However, it was first mentioned only in 1046 when Emperor Heinrich III gifted the Burgwards of Colditz, Rochlitz, and Leisnig to Agnes of Poitou.

[3] In 1143 it went by marriage to Franconian earl Rapoto von Abenberg, Stiftsvogt of Bamberg, who sold it in 1148 to Duke Friedrich III of Schwaben who later became known as Emperor Barbarossa.

[6] The Leisnigs lost their imperial immediacy, were forced to sell their burgraviate in 1365,[7] kept only their possessions around Rochsburg and Penig[6] and died out in 1538.

[3] Beginning in 1798, the local Mirus family had a romantic park constructed around the castle, which is notable for its artificial ruins and a rock tunnel built in 1866.

[11] In 1996, two Leisnig shoemakers presented another, 4.90 m (16.1 ft) high boot that is exhibited in a building near the castle and is regularly shown on parades.

[12] Permanent exhibitions in the museum are dedicated to Christian art,[13] the life in the castle when it was used as a noble residence, the administrative tasks of the early modern period, and the history of the prison system.