During the major conversions of the Moritzburg hunting castle under Augustus the Strong, a pheasantry came into existence in 1728 east of the hunting castle, which served the breeding of pheasants for hunting for the royal table. Unfortunately, the garden was devastated in the Seven-Year War (1756-63). After taking over power in 1768 by the young Elector Frederick Augustus III – a great-grandson of Augustus the Strong’s – the reconstruction of the pheasantry was begun in the year thereafter. Senior chamberlain and boyhood friend of the Elector, Camillo Count Marcolini leased the garden and had a little summer palace erected above the old pheasant house. The architect was Johann Daniel Schade. The building was erected between 1770 and 1776 adopting chinoise forms. It also included aviaries, such as the so-called Yarn House, a well, the alphabet hedge, Count Marcolini’s residential home, wheat barns as well as stables and depots.In 1775/76, the pier with the lighthouse, the port as well as the Dardanelles were created. A frigate for sailing on the Bärnsdorf Großteich lake was launched. Two artificial islands were built in the lake, on the larger of which was the Eremitage with the pool for the Electress.After 1815, the intensive pheasant breeding was terminated, and only the display aviaries with the noble pheasants and other exotic birds were maintained. Up to 1945, the pheasant garden belonged to the former Saxon royalty. Due to the land reform, the garden was split up and handed over into different forms of ownership. In our day, the Free State of Saxony owns the major part of the area by its Moritzburg Castle operation and makes an effort to reconstruct the historical structures of the landscape park. The restoration of the Little Pheasant Castle was completed in 2007.