Construction History
Construction began promptly with first surveying in April 1479. The search for an adequate location, however, proved difficult due to poor soil conditions. A location was finally found, incorporating the city wall, on the site of the former Jewish settlement northwest of the city.
Archbishop Ernest personally laid the cornerstone of his new residence on May 25, 1484 in a ceremonial procession and named the castle Moritzburg after Saint Maurice, the Patron Saint of the country.
The Moritzburg still exhibits signs of the waning Gothic age; but the almost regular layout, the consistent floor levels and the representative impression of the horizontally emphasized facades show that the castle already belongs to Early Modern European Architecture. The Moritzburg combines the concepts of a fortress with that of a castle, unifying the residence and the defence aspects of the complex.
In the beginning, the construction was supervised by Peter Hanschke of East Prussia. Starting from 1533, Andreas Günther, general master builder of the dioceses of Mainz and Magdeburg then created the fortress walls and probably also the round bastions on the east side. The design of the Magdalenenkapelle (Magdalene Chapel) is attributed to Ulrich von Smedeberg.
On May 25, 1503, Archbishop Ernest could move into the imposing castle. His arx insuperabilis (invincible fortress) was financed mainly from the salines of Halle's aristocrats, which had been confiscated in 1479. Total construction cost was announced to be 150,000 Guilders.
Read more about this topic: Moritzburg (Halle)
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