Königstein (dpa/sn) – After around two years, the history of the former Saxon state vault at Königstein Fortress (Saxon Switzerland) can be relived. According to the museum on Thursday, as part of the interior refurbishment and renovation of the historic treasury, the exhibition “The Treasure House on the Königstein” on the origins and history of “Saxony’s Fort Knox” was newly staged and modernized. Lifelike figures – two soldiers and a Privy Councilor – show how the money barrels were stored around 1860. She was created by the Berlin figure artist Lisa Büscher.
The royal Saxon Ministry of Finance had the treasury built in 1854/55 in order to be able to safely store larger amounts of money and important documents in times of war and peace. A building with 1.70 meter thick sandstone walls was built behind the walls, which were up to 40 meters high and secured by the military. The cellar was built into the rock and provided with rails, over which the barrels of money, which weighed up to 230 kilograms, were transported. Between 1860 and 1865 around two million silver thalers and gold bars were stored in the fortress safe. Later it was used, among other things, as an ammunition store.
The medieval Bohemian royal castle, first mentioned in a document in 1241, later became a monastery, then a state fortress, a court festival site, an art depot and also a prison. The 9.5-hectare fortress area has been an open-air museum since 1955 and has been state property since reunification.
