The best running trails in Noitzscher Heide

The Alte Mulde is also the flow channel for the Schwemsal ditch.

Very nice view of the Mulde river

The Düben windmill was originally built in 1840 in Glesien, north of Leipzig. It milled flour until 1960 and ground grain until 1962. Due to the expansion and development of Leipzig/Halle Airport, the listed post mill had to be moved from its original location. The Museum Village Dübener Heide Association took over the windmill in 2000. In 2006, the reconstructed windmill, complete with working machinery, was rebuilt north of the Düben Upper Mill. Source: https://www.muehlen-nordsachsen.de/muehlen/bad-dueben-bockwindmuehle/

The keep is the oldest building (dating from 1206) in the castle complex. The so-called Witch's Cellar is also located here. Behind it stands the main building, which was built as the administrative seat of the town of Düben and now houses the local history and landscape museum. Next to the main building is the so-called castle warden's cottage, which now contains a small café. All the buildings were extensively renovated between 1997 and 1999. At the foot of the castle is the also restored mill. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burg_D%C3%BCben

Düben Castle was also the site of one of the last witch trials in Germany. Tradition tells of a witch's cellar in the castle, torture (which was outlawed in Saxony in 1783), a witch's grave, and a witches' dance floor, among other accounts. During the Seven Years' War, King Frederick II of Prussia stayed at the castle and established the largest supply depot for his army in Saxony there, guarded by 5,000 soldiers. This led to the Battle of Torgau on November 3, 1760, which Frederick II won despite heavy losses. During the Wars of Liberation, from October 10 to 14, 1813, Napoleon established his headquarters at Düben Castle. According to his own account, the uncertainty surrounding the military and political situation there made it the most horrific time of his life. After 1815, the castle, along with the town of Düben, became part of Prussia. The judicial and revenue office, established in the castle in 1780, was dissolved in 1942. After the Second World War, a landscape and local history museum about the town of Bad Düben and the Düben Heath was established by 1953 under the direction of local historian Willy Winkler. Exhibits on the history of the castle and town of Düben, as well as the economic development of the region, are on display. During renovation work in the castle tower in October 2017, a wall frieze by Paul Haffner (1874–1965) was discovered behind loose paint in the interior of the timber-framed upper story. Haffner played a key role in the design of the landscape museum's exhibitions in the early 1950s. In addition to numerous murals and illustrations that aided in understanding the museum's contents, Haffner, who worked in the printing shop of museum founder Willy Winkler, drew the inventory cards for the collection objects, produced many drawings and preparatory works for the museum, and contributed to the scenery painting for the local theater.[1] Due to extensive renovation and reconstruction work, the landscape museum in the castle is currently closed and is expected to reopen to visitors in April 2019. The grounds around the castle, including the ship mill, remain open to the public. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burg_D%C3%BCben

Düben Castle was first mentioned in 981 in the chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, during the dissolution of the Bishopric of Merseburg, still under its Slavic name "Dibni." The castle's location was advantageous due to the ford across the Mulde River on an old trade route. A Slavic settlement also grew up next to the castle. During the German eastward expansion, Flemish immigrants founded the village of Neumark near the castle around 1200. Later, Frankish and Saxon settlers took over the old Slavic farmsteads, thus forming the town of Düben. In 1017, Düben Castle was owned by Count Albi, who was soon succeeded by Count Frederick of Eilenburg. In connection with the Battle of Welfesholz in 1115, Wiprecht of Groitzsch conquered the castle and from there seized several manor houses in the surrounding area. Margrave Otto the Rich was also imprisoned here for a time. Through an inheritance agreement, the castle came into the possession of the Thuringian Landgraves in 1291, who granted it as a fief to their followers. In 1450, the castle was completely destroyed during a feud between the brothers Frederick and William of Thuringia. From 1530 onward, the castle housed the administrative seat of the Electorate of Saxony's Düben district. The castle gained supra-regional notoriety during the Kohlhase Affair, which began in 1532 with the nobleman von Zaschwitz and the Elector of Saxony and dragged on until 1540 (trials in Düben in 1533). The most famous head of the district was likely Philipp Melanchthon Jr. in 1554. During the Thirty Years' War, on September 15, 1631, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, Elector George William of Brandenburg, and Elector John George I of Saxony formed an alliance here against the Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II and subsequently defeated the imperial troops of General Tilly at the Battle of Breitenfeld. The alliance did not help the town of Düben, which was destroyed three more times (in 1631, 1637, and 1641) by passing mercenary armies. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burg_D%C3%BCben

Düben Castle, formerly also called Dibni, Dewin, Diben, Dybin, and Dewen, rises on a small hill on the right bank of the Mulde River. The castle is located directly next to the bridge carrying the B2 highway over the Mulde within the town of Bad Düben (Neuhofstraße 3) in the district of North Saxony. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burg_D%C3%BCben

A very nice view of the Mulde river from the Mulde cycle path.