Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz – Schloßbergmuseum

The Chemnitz Museum of City History is housed in one of the most beautiful and best-preserved monastery complexes in Saxony. Around 1135, Emperor Lothar had a Benedictine monastery built on a ridge above the Chemnitz River, which existed until the years of the Reformation. The surviving building fabric dates back to various construction phases: The Romanesque south apse still belongs to the foundation building (around 1150), the early Gothic east wing to the oldest stone monastery building (1275), the south wing and the church to the late Gothic construction phase under the last two abbots Heinrich von Schleinitz and Hilarius von Rehburg (1483-1539).

Since its reopening in 1994/1995, the old monastery and castle building has once again housed the extensive collections on the history of Chemnitz, whose finest pieces of painting and sculpture, historical textiles, jewellery, furniture and everyday objects from the 12th to 20th centuries can be seen in the permanent exhibition Bildersaal Chemnitzer Geschichte. The museum organises special exhibitions on cultural and art-historical themes every year.

Saxony's smallest castle, Rabenstein Castle, is also part of the Schloßbergmuseum.