“ About 1540 the works were strengthened, and the place was used as a point d’appui against inroads from Bohemia. Hence the phrase frequently employed by historians that Königstein is “the key to Bohemia.” ”

“ It is chiefly remarkable for the huge fortress, lying immediately to the north-west of the town, which crowns a sandstone rock rising abruptly from the Elbe to a height of 750 ft. Across the Elbe lies the Lilienstein, a similar formation, but unfortified. The fortress of Königstein was probably a Slav stronghold as early as the 12th century, but it is not mentioned in chronicles before the year 1241, when it was a fief of Bohemia. In 1401 it passed to the margraves of Meissen and by the treaty of Eger in 1459 it was formally ceded by Bohemia to Saxony. ”