Schloss Scharfenberg

Schloss Scharfenberg, Saxony is a medieval castle on the southern slopes of the River Elbe mid-way between Dresden and Meissen.

In the first quarter of the century, under Dietrich von Miltitz and then Carl Borromäus von Miltitz, several leading literary figures of the time gathered there, forming the "Scharfenberger Circle", including Novalis, Christian Gottfried Körner, Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué, Johann August Apel and E. T. A.

These included Ernst Ferdinand Oehme, Thomas Fearnley, Johan Christian Clausen Dahl and Caspar David Friedrich.

It was occupied by various persons displaced by the war in a hostel fashion and was under state control under the Soviet regime.

It still had a residential function and an artist community linked itself to the building, also keen to preserve the castle.

Through the 1970s and 1980s it was used for civil defence purposes, partly due to its strategic views over the River Elbe.