Festung Königstein gGmbH
Exhibition about the state prison and other detention facilities at the fortress.
Like many other fortresses in Europe, Königstein Fortress served as a state prison. At the same time, it housed more prisons for prisoners convicted to do construction work, military prisoners as well as prisoners of war. The exhibition “Imprisoned at Königstein Hill” shows their history and the fates of those imprisoned here from 1588 to 1922. Famous inmates of the state prison were, e.g. Johann Friedrich Böttger, co-inventor of the European porcelain and social democrat August Bebel.
A media station enables visitors to research on approx. 1,000 documented prisoners. In addition to their names, there is information available on their origins, special occurrences and their food supplies during their imprisonment as well as the reasons leading to their detention at Königstein hill.
Surely of special interest to our youngest guests: A cell with construction prisoners from 1790 and a guardroom – both equipped with life-size figures! In both rooms, visitors can listen to conversations among prisoners and soldiers.
To set the mood for the topic of "fortress imprisonment", a short film depicting the arrival of a prisoner in 1849 is shown in the first exhibition room. The film is based on the memoirs of August Röckel, who was music director at the Royal Court Theatre in Dresden from 1843 until his arrest.
Note: The video shown here shows excerpts of the short film that can be seen in the exhibition.
