Kaisertrutz Bastion

In the area of ??older suburban wooden buildings (barns), a "very strong fortification" was built in 1427 as part of the Budissiner (Bautzener) or Reichenbacher Tor. In 1490, the "large Reichenbacher Rondell", which later received the name Kaisertrutz, was built as an upstream bastion of the double-walled city wall to secure the Via Regia trade route running through the city from the west.

During the Thirty Years' War in 1641 the Kaisertrutz got its name. The city was occupied by the Swedes and defied the imperial and Saxon troops in front of the city during a siege of several weeks. In 1848 the Kaisertrutz was rebuilt as the main guard of the Prussian garrison after the connecting walls to the Reichenbacher Turm and the city wall were broken. Both the moat around Trutz and its basement were filled. The new guard received an arcade porch and two flanking turrets. After extensive renovations, the departments of city history and prehistory and early history of Upper Lusatia of the then Kaiser Friedrich Museum were opened in Kaisertrutz.

The Kaisertrutz reopened in 1948. The archaeological exhibition of the city museum has been moved to the baroque house Neißstraße 30 in favor of the new picture gallery. The filled basement was cleared from 1998 to 1999, with a medieval wooden fountain from the 13th century coming to light under the foundations.

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