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The fortified castle at Lauenstein was built on a cliff above the river Müglitz towards the end of the 12th century. After 1464, alderman and mine owner Hans Münzer converted the fortress into a residential castle. Between 1517 and 1821, Lauenstein Castle was owned by the aristocratic von Bünau family, who were instrumental in the development of mining in the Saxon Erzgebirge. Like the castle, Lauenstein town church also provides evidence of the von Bünau family’s connections to mining. The late-Gothic hall church of St. Marien und Laurentin (St. Mary and St. Lawrence) was built in the last third of the 15th century at the direction of Hans Münzer, then the Lord of Lauenstein. It was rebuilt by Günther von Bünau in 1594 after a fire ravaged the town. The reconstruction and refurbishment of the church were funded by the family out of their profits from tin and iron ore mining.