The Königstein Fortress, located not far from Dresden on a rockyplateau
high above the Elbe River, is considered one of the mostinteresting and
best preserved fortifications in Europe. It has a longeventful history
dating back to the Bronze Age. Königstein was first mentioned in
documents in 1241. It was notuntil the end of the 16th century that the
former castle began to beexpanded into a fortress, which was then
constantly adapted tonew conditions. However, it was spared from warlike
destructionover all the centuries. Instead, it was sometimes used as a
prisoncamp in times of war, for example during the Franco-Prussian Warof
1870/71 and for the last time during the Second World War. In1949, the
then GDR set up a youth workshop in the fortress basedon the teachings
of Soviet pedagogue Anton Semyonovich Makarenko.In 1955, the GDR's
Ministry of Culture finally converted Königsteininto a museum and since
1991, now owned by the Free State of Saxony, it has undergone extensive
structural renovation. The managing director of Festung Königstein
gGmbH, AngelikaTaube, became aware of Hans Dieter Schaal as early as
1997, and inthe following years established an intensive collaboration
with him, which has now resulted in six permanent and twelve
temporaryexhibitions. They illustrate the multifaceted history of the
fortress ina way that clearly stands out from pure documentation and
alwayscreates something new and original from the factually given.This
book presents these exhibitions in large-format colour illustrations.In
addition, it contains descriptions and comments by Schaal that clarify
the history of the exhibitions and also give the reader insights into
the creative processes.
