Annaburg

Annaburg was known as Lochau until the sixteenth century. The Ascanian dukes of Saxony built a hunting lodge here in the thirteenth century. It burned in 1422, and Duke Albrecht III escaped through a window but died from his injuries. His wife escaped with him, but many members of their household died in the fire. He left no heir, bringing the Ascanian ruling line of Saxony-Wittenberg to an end.

In 1572 the ducal residence and settlement were renamed for Anna of Denmark, wife of Elector August of Saxony. The court maintained a pharmacy here, and from 1762 the palace housed a military boarding school where hundreds of boys were educated by Protestant military instructors. Annaburg passed to Prussia in 1815 after the Napoleonic Wars.