Point 13 - Local Courthouse

Local Courthouse

This tall, two-winged building housed the Schirgiswalde district court until its dissolution in 1951.

As the former lord of the manor, the Catedral Chaper of Bautzen built its courthouse here in 1839, which was taken over by the Saxon state after 1845 and continued to be run as the royal district court.

From 1856 onwards, this institution was called the "Gerichtsamt", later the "Amtsgericht". It formed the center of a judicial district that covered the southern part of the Bautzen region.

The right wing of the building was added later by the state as a residence for the court clerk instead of a beautiful old arcade house. A memorial plaque on the front of the older part of the building (10 meters to the left) provides an insight into the history of the town. In the courtyard of the former district court, you can see the barred windows, as the building served as an old court prison until the 1940s.

We are here on the site of the former Niederhof, which extended as far as the Spree bridge and is now built over. It was the knight's seat from the first centuries of the village, but was abandoned after being acquired by the Bautzen Cathedral Chapter in 1703.

Today, the premises of the former district court are used by the municipal administration of Schirgiswalde-Kirschau.