nd reader journey | Travel in the footsteps of time to the “Pearl from Saxony’s Crown”

Weesenstein Castle in the town of the same name in the Müglitztal, the "pearl from Saxony's crown" Photo: dpa/Matthias Hiekel It is time to look ahead a few months, because: "Time that we take is time that gives us something," as the writer Ernst Ferstl so aptly remarked. Let's look at March 8th, the day on which we have been inviting nd readers for many years to celebrate International Women's Day together and to go traveling.

Next year we will go on a journey through time on this special day. And in the truest sense of the word. We are traveling to Glashütte in Saxony, where watches have been produced for more than 180 years and have now gained such a good reputation that they are exported worldwide. The foundation stone for this was laid by a man from Dresden, Ferdinand Adolph Lange, who learned the craft of watchmaking from the Saxon court clockmaker Johann Christian Gutkaes in his hometown at the beginning of the 19th century and perfected his knowledge and skills on the then usual journey through France, England and Switzerland. Lange soon mastered his craft so well that the famous Parisian watchmaker Joseph Thaddäus Winnerl offered him a job for life. However, Lange refused, returned to Saxony and founded his own factory in Glashütte on December 7, 1845.

We can find out more about how watchmaking came to a region whose people had previously lived from silver and copper mining for a long time on a tour of the Glashütte Watch Museum. There, over 400 exhibits on the city's history and in particular the history of the watchmaking craft are shown on around 1,000 square meters in the historic school building of the German Watchmaking School. Numerous exhibits flowed from the watch museum, which already existed during GDR times, into the exhibition that opened in 2006. We have a good hour to look around the museum and get a fascinating impression of the precision and craftsmanship behind the fine timepieces.

Then a look at the clock tells us that it is time for a lunch break. We will do this at Weesenstein Castle, where we will spend the afternoon. The castle can be seen from afar, as it rises high on a rocky outcrop above the Müglitz valley. Weesenstein is one of more than 3,000 palaces, fortresses and mansions that exist in Saxony, but no other is called the "pearl from Saxony's crown."

Date: March 8, 2027 Price: 105 euros Services:

Booking and further information: nd.Reisen, Frank Diekert, Tel.: (03375) 9136410, Email: leserreisen@nd-reisen.de

We will see, learn and experience why this castle is given such an honor. The construction of the huge facility is special. The eight-story building was largely built from top to bottom. The old cellar rooms, for example, are on the fifth floor and the horse stables on the fourth floor. We will find out why this is so and what other secrets the castle hides on a sightseeing tour. By the way, on this day we have the castle to ourselves, because it will only be open for us on this Monday, when the castle gates otherwise remain closed to the public. An exception is also made on rest days for 91-year-old Brigitte Mumme, the only permanent resident of the castle. In 1945 she was temporarily accommodated there as a refugee with her family. In the early 1970s, when a few apartments were built in the castle, it became a lifelong home for her and her husband.

The actor Rolf Hoppe didn't live in the castle, but for almost 20 years it was something like his second home. With the Hoftheater Dresden, which he founded, he often and happily performed in his favorite castle, with which he remained closely connected until his death in 2018. We will learn a lot about the centuries-long eventful history of the castle - including what Rembrandt's famous painting "Saskia with the Red Flower" has to do with it.

We will hear and see so many new things that we will hardly notice how quickly time flies. But before we return home in the afternoon, we enjoy a small organ concert in the baroque castle chapel and coffee and cake from the castle kitchen.

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