Located at about 13km northwest of the Saxon capital, Dresden, Moritzburg Castle is a Baroque palace named after Duke Moritz of Saxony, who had a hunting lodge built there between 1542 and 1546. Elector John George II of Saxony had the lodge extended; the chapel, designed by the architect Wolf Caspar von Klengel, was added between 1661 and 1671. Between 1723 and 1733, Augustus II the Strong had the castle remodelled as a country seat by architects Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann and Zacharias Longuelune, adding a formal park, several ponds and a game preserve.
The surroundings of the castle were further developed by Elector Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, at the end of the 18th century. The Little Pheasant Castle (Fasanenschlösschen) was built between 1770 and 1776. The grounds were extended to include a building for the storage of bird nets, the large Well of Venus, living quarters and a maritime setting on the Great Lake complete with a miniature harbour. Prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony, who lived in the castle between 1933 and 1945, was the last resident of the House of Wettin. He was dispossessed in 1945 by the postwar Soviet administration.
The castle has four round towers and lies on a symmetrical artificial island. The interior is furnished with examples of opulent baroque decor. The collection of red deer antlers is one of the most important of its kind. In 1723, Augustus the Strong acquired a four-poster bed for his Japanese palace. It had approximately a million peacock, pheasant, guinea hen and duck feathers woven into the canvas. Examples of Chinese, Japanese and Meissen porcelain are shown in the historical Porzellanquartier ("porcelain quarter"). A collection of royal carriages is shown in the entrance hall.
About the stamps
The first stamp is part of the series Blumen, about which I wrote here. The second stamp, depicting Mecklenburg Lake Plateau, is part of the series Wild Germany, about which I wrote here.
References
Moritzburg Castle - Wikipedia
Schloss Moritzburg - Official website
Sender: Mirko / ICE-T (postcrossing) DE-6779220
Sent from Dresden (Saxony / Germany), on 13.12.2017
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