A lost place is brought back to life: Colditz Castle opens on April 17 with a new emotional tour

After two years of intense planning and a six-month closure for conversion work, Colditz Castle near Leipzig opens on April 17, 2024 with a new emotional tour. Across an area of approximately 1,300 m², three areas of the once magnificent hunting lodge are now open to the public for the first time. In the Cellar House, Castle Chapel and Prince’s House, visitors can view more than 300 exhibits and experience immersive scenes from 500 years’ castle history. A considerable sum of €500K was invested by the State Palaces, Castles and Gardens of Saxony, non-profit (SBG) in the transformation of Colditz Castle. The opening of the new tour is the most important project of SBG this year. “Palaces and castles do not only have a glittering past as the residences of Saxon kings and princes. The history of the buildings also includes darker chapters. And this is something we want to show here: Colditz Castle also served as a prisoner of war camp, mental asylum and hospital. The eventful stories from these chapters are now brought to life with augmented reality,” said Christian Striefler, SBG Managing Director, explaining the new concept.

Get in touch with history – experience history first hand
A key element of this new castle presentation is, once again, the cooperation with the French start-up Histovery. After Meissen Albrechtsburg Castle and the baroque Moritzburg Castle, Colditz Castle is now the third and last SBG castle to be brought to life with an interactive tablet guide. The journey in time through the castle with the HistoPad offers augmented reality, 3D animations, a 360-degree view and high-resolution photos. With the touch of a button visitors can also get additional information, animations and films. Eight immersive themed stations offer fascinating insights into the past.
Histovery founder & CEO Bruno de Sa Moreira: "With the HistoPad, we invite visitors of the new Colditz tour to experience an ‚Augmented Visit‘ that is instructive, engaging, and convivial. For this new endeavor at Colditz, we aimed to push the boundaries of immersion and interactivity, inviting visitors to fully immerse themselves in the captivating narratives of the escapes and the individuals who have shaped the history of this iconic location.”

Interactive leap in time through 500 years’ castle history
The tour focuses on two particularly defining eras and visitors are taken back to the Renaissance in 1520. At that time Frederick the Wise used Colditz as a hunting lodge. Today, however, only a few elaborately painted coffered ceilings are testimony of this time. The HistoPad recreates scenes of the elector’s daily life as well as the magnificent design of the rooms.
A key area of the tour is World War II. From 1940 Colditz Castle was a prisoner of war camp for high-ranking officers of the western allies. Prominent prisoners kept here at Oflag IV C included the nephews of Winston Churchill and the British king at the time, George VI. The many impressive prisoner escape attempts are regarded, particularly in Great Britain, as legendary and have become popular thanks to the TV series and book “The Colditz Story”. Through these stories, Colditz Castle has become a symbol of freedom. The tour recreates ten of the more than 300 escape attempts and brings them to life in a unique way with animation. They include the most famous escape attempt through the so-called French tunnel under the Castle Chapel and through the theater hall. At an interactive station, guests can test whether they would have managed to escape from Colditz Castle with the glider, known as the Colditz Glider, which the prisoners had built themselves. “At last, these stories are being told! At last, the visitors of Colditz Castle can enter the castle living quarters,” enthused Regina Thiede, museologist at Colditz Castle. Together with the team at Histovery, the design company Whitebox and the project team of SBG, she has worked on every detail of the new exhibition.

Colditz Castle remains unrenovated
Even after the re-opening, visitors to Colditz will not see a fully renovated castle. A unique characteristic which SBG ensures is that the lost place character of the castle has been preserved. The different eras and uses can be experienced in this way here. In the renovation new electric cables were installed, the flooring secured with illuminated walkways, display cabinets put up, and old GDR wallpaper which had peeled off fixed back on the walls.
This season the new experience is open from April 17 to November 3 from Tuesday to Sunday as well as on bank holidays. Guided tours can also be booked outside the usual opening times and combined with the HistoPad tour. Standard entry price is €10. Guests can also voluntarily donate one euro for the restoration of the Colditz organ.

Colditz Castle. We bring history to life – from April 17, 2024

Price: Adults: €10.00 | Reduced: €8.00 | Groups of 15 people or more: €8.00 each
schloesserlandCARD holders only pay €3 for the HistoPad.

Opening times 2024: April 17 to November 3, 2024 (from 2025: April to October)
Grand opening on April 16, 2024, the 79th anniversary of the liberation by the US Army

Tuesday to Friday from 10 am – 5 pm & Saturday / Sunday / bank holidays from 10 am – 6 pm.
Closed Mondays except bank holidays. Upon request, guided tours possible throughout the year.

The HistoPad is available in the following languages: DE, EN, FR, CS, PL, NL

Accessibility:
Suitable for people with visual or hearing impairments.
Not suitable for wheelchairs due to the nature of the historical building.

www.schloss-colditz.de
www.schloesserland-sachsen.de
www.histovery.com