Tourist Attractions in Kamenz

A handsome modern building at Lessingplatz 1-3 in Kamenz houses the Lessing Museum, with mementos of the Enlightenment writer Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's life and work and a Lessing library.

The Gothic church of St Justus (1377) in Kamenz has a cycle of Gothic wall paintings (c. 1380) and a Late Gothic winged altar.

From the outlook tower on the Hutberg (294 m/965ft) there are fine views of Kamenz and the countryside of Western Lusatia.

Near St Mary's Church in Kamenz is the Katechismuskirche (1358), thought to be the oldest building in the town. It was originally incorporated in the town's fortifications (embrasures on upper floor).

16km/10mi west is Königsbrück, with a Baroque Schloss (now a sanitarium) and a Baroque parish church (begun 1682).

In Zwingerstrasse, which runs northwest from the Markt in Kamenz, is a Renaissance building, the Malzhaus (No. 7). Beside it is the 16th C. Basteiturm, a relic of the town's fortifications, which were demolished in 1835.

In Kamenz's Pulsnitzer Strasse, which cuts across Zwingerstrasse, is the Ponickau-Haus (No. 16), an old burgher's house with a Baroque facade added in 1745 which now houses the Museum of Western Lusatia (prehistory and the early historical period, etc.).

In Panschwitz-Kuckau (8km/5mi southeast of Kamenz) can be found Marienstern Convent (founded 1248), with a 14th C. hall-church (Baroque west front). The church has a richly furnished interior (partly the work of artists from Prague; 13th C. Pietà). Also of interest are the nuns' cells, the Abbess's Lodging, the Neuer Konvent and several Baroque buildings.

Rosenthal, 10km/6mi east of Kamenz, has a Baroque pilgrimage church (1778), with an octagonal Baroque chapel of 1766 and the Administratur of 1755.

Opposite the Lessing Museum in Kamenz, in the Platz der Jugend, stands the Late Gothic church (1493-99) of the former Franciscan friary of St Anne, with altars dedicated to St Anne, St Francis, the Savior and the Virgin (carved wood, 1510-20). During the rebuilding of the monastery after the 1842 fire the roof turrets (by Gottfried Semper) were added. The Mönchsmauer (Monks' Wall) along the north and east sides was part of the old fortifications of the monastery, which lay outside the town walls.

On a 35 m/115ft high graywacke crag stands the Kamenz's principal church, St Mary's (Late Gothic, c. 1400-80), built of the local granite, with graceful sandstone tracery in the windows. The most notable features of the interior are the Marienaltar (rich woodcarving, 15th C.), the Michaelisaltar (1598) and a Crucifixion group of around 1500.

In the old Markt in Kamenz stands the Town Hall (Rathaus), rebuilt in Italian Renaissance style after a fire which devastated the town in 1842.

The Andreasbrunnen (St Andrew's Fountain; 1570), an elaborate sandstone structure with a figure of Justitia, is one of the few surviving Renaissance works in Kamenz.