The Pump house

Because of its natural features, Königstein was predestined to be converted into a fortress. This however required an independent supply of water. That is why the elector August had a 152.5 metre deep shaft for the well sunk between 1563 and 1569. To protect the vital water supply, a wooden pump house was built shortly afterwards. Because of the advances in warfare technology, various stone buildings were built to protect the pump house from being bombed. The building standing today is still from the year 1736. Above the well it has a bomb-proof sandstone vault with walls measuring 4 metres in diameter. At the end of the 19th century a granite compressed concrete ceiling built on steel supports was added.

The water was first pumped using capstans, later with a treadmill and beginning in 1871 with the aid of a steam engine which was replaced by an electric motor in 1912. Until 1967 the fortress supplied the local population and the visitors to the fortress with drinking water. After a 30-year interruption and the reconstruction of the whole building, the cleaning of the well shaft and the restoration of the pumping equipment, the heart of the fortress began to beat again in 1998. Since then the pumping of the water can be seen again at demonstration shows.

With its 152.5 metres depth the well at Königstein Fortress is the deepest well in Saxony and the second deepest in Germany.