Dankwarderode Castle (German: Burg Dankwarderode) on the Burgplatz ("castle square") in Braunschweig (Brunswick) is a Saxon lowland castle. It was the residence of the Brunswick dukes for centuries and, today, is part of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum.

Dankwarderode Castle was built between c. 1160 and 1175 as the Pfalz of Duke Henry the Lion on an island in the river Oker. Next to the castle, construction of Brunswick Cathedral began in 1173. The castle lost its military significance as a defensive structure early, when it became surrounded completely by the growing city.

During the 15th century, the dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel moved their Residenz out of the city and to the nearby town of Wolfenbüttel. In 1616 the palas was remodelled in the renaissance style, while the rest of the castle was demolished or left to decay. During the 19th century, the castle keep served as a barrack, plans to demolish it completely were stopped by public protests in 1873. The present structure was rebuilt in 1887 by Ludwig Winter, based on archaeological investigations. Today the ground floor of Dankwarderode Castle houses the permanent collection of medieval objects of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum.



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Brunswick Palace (German: Braunschweiger Schloss or Braunschweiger Residenzschloss) on the Bohlweg in the centre of the city of Brunswick (German: Braunschweig), was the residence of the Brunswick dukes from 1753 to 8 November 1918.

Work on the first building was begun in 1718 under the direction of Hermann Korb. After this building burned down in 1830, a second palace was built by Carl Theodor Ottmer, being completed in 1841. This was completely demolished in 1960 at the direction of Brunswick's city council due to the heavy damage it had suffered in air raids during the Second World War. The Palace Park (Schlosspark) was laid out on the resulting waste ground. This was completely removed in the spring of 2005 - following another resolution of the city council in 2004 - in order to erect a large shopping centre, the so-called Schloss-Arkaden (Palace Arcades), by spring 2007 on the land that had been cleared. Its western facade was to consist of a faithful reconstruction of the facade of Ottmer's palace. The rebuilt palace was opened to the public on 6 May 2007.

Brunswick Palace

Richmond Castle (German: Schloss Richmond) is a castle built from 1768 to 1769 in Braunschweig, Germany for Princess (later Duchess) Augusta, wife of Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand. It lies near the Oker river in the south of the city. The architect was Carl Christoph Wilhelm Fleischer.

The castle was named after the princess's English home in Richmond Park, a royal park now in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.

The castle grounds are located along Wolfenbütteler Straße ("Wolfenbüttel Street") in the city district of Heidberg-Melverode. The building is built in Baroque style, and has a square floor plan with the entrance at one corner. The state rooms are located on the diagonal, and on either side of these, there are private rooms and a mezzanine floor. The facade is divided into pedestal, pilaster, and entablature areas, with a balustrade parapet. Projecting avant-corps and perrons (staircases) emphasize the respective ends of the corps de logis.

Compared to the original plan, the designs of the balustrade, staircases, and roof were changed over the course of time. For example, in 1785 the architect Christian Gottlob Langwagen improved the lighting in the central part of the building by installing a roof lantern with 12 windows.

In 1935, the city of Braunschweig acquired the castle grounds from Duke Ernst August. Since 1945, the building has been used for public events. The 18th-century paintings in the interior of the building were restored from 1977 to 1981.

The park was created along with the castle in 1768, in the style of a classic English landscape garden. Together with the Wörlitzer Park, it is one of the earliest landscape gardens in northern Germany.

The park was designed by the renowned English landscape architect Lancelot "Capability" Brown and is similar in structure and details to Richmond Park, a royal park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. A special feature of the park are the long lines of sight that extend far into the country from the castle. Brown's intention was possibly to create a peaceful, picturesque, ideal representation of a landscape painting.

Over the years, the original design was modified and adapted to the tastes of the respective era. From 1830, Duke Wilhelm employed the court gardener Johann Christian Burmester to expand the park significantly. Between 1833 and 1838, more buildings were added – the Ducal Villa and Schloss Neu-Richmond or Williams Castle (which no longer exists). In addition, larger water areas and an island were created.

The park has been open to the public since 1964. The nearly four-acre park, largely neglected after the end of the Second World War, was reconstructed in 1987 after the historic original design.

The castle is not open every day and can only be visited with a guide. Only the state rooms on the ground floor (the three on the diagonal and two smaller rooms facing the gardens on either side of the diagonal) are accessible to the public, because the first floor is a private residence.

In 1871, a Braunschweig brewery was named after the castle's popular name, Feldschlößchen. A travelling brewer from Braunschweig took the name to Switzerland and founded the Feldschlösschen brewery in Rheinfelden in 1876.

Since 1982, the Gerstäcker Museum has been housed in the former guard and kitchen house.

Schloss Richmond

The Wendhausen Castle is a 17th-century moated castle located in Wendhausen, a community within the municipality of Lehre, Lower Saxony.

The castle is built in a Renaissance style surround by a large moat. The moat has an oblong shape with the castle being at the far eastern end. The western area within the moat was part of a beautiful and ornate gardens.

The first mention of a moated castle at this location was in 1325 and was in the possession of the Duke of Braunschweig. Throughout its early history, it has numerous owners and was repeatedly burned. In 1602, the castle was completely destroyed. In 1682, the property was given to Philipp Ludwig Probst (de) as compensation for services by Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel Duke Rudolf August and his younger brother Duke Anton Ulrich. A water tower was constructed the same year. Probst, the Chancellor of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, began building the Renaissance-style castle on the foundations of the moated castle dating to the 14th century. The complex included a cavalier house, barn, gatehouse and stables. The castle was completed in 1688. After Probst, Konrad Detlev von Dehn (de) owned the castle and remodeled it using Versailles as a model. With his vision, he designed parks complete with gondolas.

A number of owners followed Dehn until the prominent Vieweg family leased the estate in 1836 and finally purchased the castle in 1873. The Vieweg's were well-known publishers from nearby Braunschweig and also built the Wendhausen Windmill. The Vieweg's created a large art collection. The last Vieweg heir died in February 1939 and the art was auctioned off in the following spring. The city of Braunschweig purchased the estate in 1941.

Following World War II, it was used as an auxiliary hospital, as a recovery facility and also as a kindergarten. Between 1985 and 1992, it remained empty and in 1992, a three-year complete restoration began and was finished in 1995.

The castle is currently a private residence and owned by Kristin Adams. It can be reserved for weddings.


Wendhausen Castle

Wolfenbüttel Palace contains the only state and private apartments of the High and Late Baroque in Niedersachsen. For some 400 years up to the year 1754, the palace served as the residence of the Dukes of Braunschweig (Brunswick) and Lüneburg. Created from a medieval castle and a Renaissance palace, the superb facades and exceptional state apartments of Wolfenbüttel Palace now make it a complete baroque artwork.

Various notable personalities of German and European history were born in the palace, grew up here or were active at the court. The later Empress Elisabeth Christine – the wife of Emperor Charles VI, mother of Empress Maria Theresa and grandmother of the French Queen Marie Antoinette – was born here, as was Duchess Anna Amalia of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, who gave her name to the famous Weimar Library. Two famous visitors to the palace were Electress Sophie of Hannover and her son, the later King George I of Great Britain, while other illustrious visitors to Wolfenbüttel Palace included Tsar Peter the Great of Russia and the Prussian King Frederick William I, the Soldier King, and his son Frederick the Great.

The ducal apartments are the only ones of their kind in Niedersachsen and here one can gain an idea of everyday courtly life in the age of absolutism. Every Sunday at 10.00 am, visitors can experience various aspects of the courtly culture during a guided tour.

Wolfenbüttel Palace

The Essenrode Manor in Essenrode, a town within the municipality of Lehre, Lower Saxony, was built by Gotthart Heinrich August von Bülow in 1738.

The mansion is built in a late Baroque style surrounded by a small English-style park. The park grounds are surrounded by a moat that once included a drawbridge, which was part of earlier fortifications built in 1337. To provide extra protection, these fortifications were constructed and surrounded by outbuildings.

The property has been owned by three different families throughout its history. From 1337 to 1625 it was owned by the von Garssenbüttel family.

In 1627, ownership was transferred to an aristocratic family, von Bülow, who controlled the property for the next 210 years (1627 to 1837). The von Bulow's built the current mansion as it is today. Former Prussian, Kingdom of Westphalia and Duchy of Magdeburg politician, Hans, Count von Bülow, was born here in 1774. In 1750, Karl August von Hardenberg, Prussian reformer and Minister President of Prussia, whose mother was a von Bülow, was born in the mansion. Karl spent much of his childhood at the mansion and it's during this time that many of his future reforms were developed.

Since 1837 it belongs to the Lower Saxon noble von Lüneburg (de) family.

Essenrode Manor

Salder House (German: Schloss Salder) is a stately home in the Renaissance style in Salder, a village in the borough of Salzgitter in Lower Saxony. It was built in 1608 for the lords of Saldern by master builder, Paul Francke, by order of Kriegsrat David Sachses of Wolfenbüttel.

In 1695, the heir to the throne, Augustus William of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel bought the complex and had major restoration work carried out on it.

Since 1962 Salzgitter's town museum has been located in Salder House and may be visited free of charge. Its major exhibition themes are geology, prehistory and protohistory as well as the history of the town and 31 villages of Salzgitter borough from the Baroque period to the 20th century. In the division titled "From Ore to Steel" (Vom Erz zum Stahl) various models are displayed, including one of the Gebrüder Schreitel iron foundry.

A wide variety of open-air events are held in the courtyard during the summer months.

Salder House

Fallersleben Castle (German: Schloss Fallersleben) is located in Wolfsburg in the German state of Lower Saxony and, together with Neuhaus and Wolfsburg Castles, is one of the most important historic buildings in the town. It is in the district of Fallersleben and forms an historic setting along with the castle lake, St. Michael's Church and the Old Brewery.

The castle was built from 1520–51, after its predecessor had been destroyed during the Hildesheim Diocesan Feud (1518–23). It was originally laid out as a horseshoe with the courtyard open on its south side. By 1760 the castle was surrounded by a moat, about 12 metres wide and 5 metres deep. Access was only possible over two bridges. One bridge and a section of moat was reconstructed in 1998 on the basis of archaeological excavations. Before that its water castle character was scarcely recognisable because the moats had been filled in. Of the original three wings of the castle, only the west wing, with its spiral staircase tower, in the inner courtyard has been preserved. It is a timber-framed building about 40 metres long on a stone foundation. There is also a royal court, the Kavaliershaus.

In the old castle buildings there were 16 living rooms (parlour (Hofestube), bed chamber (Schlafkammer), apartment (Gemach), young ladies room (Jungfrauen-Stube)) as well as the rooms for officials, kitchen staff (Wirtschaftspersonal), the armoury (Rüstkammer) and silver room (Silberkammer) of the ducal seat. Numerous outbuildings belonged to the castle, such as the Old Brewery, and extensive estates that were later converted into a ducal domain (Domäne). In 2001–03 Fallersleben Castle was renovated in line with its status as a listed building.

Fallersleben Castle, like Gifhorn Castle, was owned by Duke Francis of Brunswick and Lüneburg (1508–49). He died whilst it was being built, however, when he was 41 years old. From 1539 he ruled the Duchy of Gifhorn, in which Fallersleben lay, from his ducal seat in Gifhorn. Francis introduced the Reformation into the state. His wife was Clara of Saxe-Lauenburg, daughter of Duke Magnus I of Saxe-Lauenburg. After the death of her husband, Francis, she was given the castle as a dower and completed its construction in 1551. She lived for over 27 years in Fallersleben and generated a boom in the small town of Fallersleben (coinage (Münzordnung) was introduced in 1555, a market system (Marktordnung) in 1573, a brewery (Brauordnung) etc.). She died in 1576 during a visit to Barth, Germany and was buried there. After her death a Drost (manager) lived at the castle. Renovations were carried out in 1616 by Duke Christian, in 1636 by Duke Augustus and in 1649 by Duke Frederick. In the mid-17th century the ducal residence was given up and the main building of the castle became the seat of an Amt in which, from 1855, civic authorities were accommodated (finance office, court, town hall).

Since 1991 the basement of the castle has housed the Hoffmann von Fallersleben Museum, a museum about the history of German literature and democracy in the 19th century. It portrays the life of the poets of the Deutschlandlied and the history of its Kinderlieder. On the upper floor is an art gallery with paintings by Franz Hoffmann-Fallersleben (only child of Hoffmann von Fallersleben). Also worth seeing there are the wood carvings and stuccoed ceilings. The castle also has a suite of rooms that may be hired for events.

In 2001-03 archaeological investigations were carried out on the castle site. These exposed cellars with barrel ceilings (Tonnengewölbe) and walls 1.3 metres thick. Since the excavations the cellars and foundation walls have been covered with glass so that visitors can see them. Formerly the cellars under the castle were linked together and acted as store rooms for food.

Fallersleben Castle

Lichtenberg Castle (German: Burg Lichtenberg), also called the Heinrichsburg ("Henry Castle"), is a ruined castle dating to the 12th century in the Lichtenberge hills (the northwestern part of the Salzgitter Hills) near Salzgitter in the German state of Lower Saxony. The ruins are found south of and above the Salzgitter suburb of Lichtenberg on the steep summit of the Burgberg (241 metres high).

The site, which is extremely good from a strategic perspective, shows the ideal type of ground plan of a hill castle from the High Middle Ages. The builder of the most important fortifications of the Welf dynasty was Duke Henry the Lion. The castle was built to counter the Bishopric of Hildesheim and its Hohenstaufen neighbour in Goslar. In spite of numerous conflicts of those times it was not destroyed until 1552 by the cannons of a mercenary army.

The castle comprises an upper and lower wards. The upper ward lies on an oval plateau, 45 x 80 metres in area. Here there are various residential and domestic buildings, towers and the castle well, surrounded by a 1.6 metre thick enceinte. In a residential building measuring 10 x 8.5 metres is a ladies' apartment (Kemenate) an old hot air heating system was uncovered during excavations. A little below the inner ward there is a 32 x 8 metre palas, with its great hall, as well as a neighbouring tower and dungeon.

The first construction phase of the castle is dated to the 12th century and its expansion was probably carried out between 1170 and 1180. The large outer ward belongs to a more recent building phase. It was surrounded by a rampart and moat system as well as an enceinte with 13 demi-bastions. Of these, parts of the gate wall and the associated moat have survived. The only traces of former buildings are their individual foundation fragments.

Lichtenberg Castle is first mentioned in 1180. The Welf duke, Henry the Lion (1129–1195) used it as a bulwark against the Hohenstaufen emperor, Frederick Barbarossa. The castle lay on the border of the Welf principality and threatened the neighbouring, non-Welf territories of the Bishopric of Hildesheim as the imperial estate of Goslar. In the course of his imperial expedition against Henry the Lion, Frederick Barbarossa captured the castle in 1180 after a short siege. The "Lion" did not get it back until after the peace treaty with the Hohenstaufen emperor, Henry VI in 1194. A year later, Henry the Lion, lord of the castle, died.

In 1198, the Hohenstaufen fraction in the empire elected Philip of Swabia as king, whereupon the Welf party choose Otto IV (the 16-year-old son of Henry the Lion) as antiking. Otto IV took advantage of the power base of Lichtenberg Castle in order to inflict damage on the imperial town of Goslar that was loyal to the Hohenstaufens. In order to safeguard the imperial estate of Goslar, in 1206 the Hohenstaufens had their imperial advocate (Reichsvogt) from Goslar, Count Hermann of Wöltingerode, advance against the castle which, rather surprisingly he managed to conquer. In early June 1206 Count Gunzelin of Wolfenbüttel unsuccessfully besieged Lichtenberg Castle, after Count Hermann had captured it and from there he conducted raids and forays in the surrounding region as well as in the area of Peine, Gunzelin's county.

When Otto IV became recognised as the only king in 1208 (after the murder of his adversary), the castle fell back into Welf hands. In 1218 he died and the castle was inherited by Duke Otto of Brunswick and Lüneburg, the Child. After his death, his son, Duke John of Brunswick and Lüneburg, inherited the estates and lordship of Lichtenberg. Periodically the castle was enfeoffed to the town of Brunswick, but in 1365 it was redeemed again by the lords of Saldern. They operated from the castle as robber knights; their raids being reported in the Brunswick book of fees in 1379-82. The noble von Saldern family was driven from the castle in the 15th century. In the records of that period Rudolf von Garßenbüttel and Herwig von Uetze are named as advocates (Vögte).

In 1552 units under Count Vollrad of Mansfeld of the Schmalkaldic League advanced on the castle. He had invaded the Duchy of Brunswick with around 5,400 landsknechts and 2,100 horsemen and had already devastated towns in the Harz Foreland. The troops fired on the castle with heavy cannon, including large calibre Fürmösers (mortars). Since then Lichtenberg Castle has lain in ruins, its use as a quarry to build the state farm (Staatsdomäne) of Lichtenberg only added to its demise. In the same year Mansfeld appeared in like manner before Neuhaus Castle in Wolfsburg.

In the 19th century the castle ruins attracted public interest. The Bismarck era was responsible for an increased awareness of history and the slow awakening of nationalist ideas after the founding of the German Empire in 1871.

Since 1892, there has been a Society for the Preservation of Lichtenberg Castle, which was refounded in 1995 as the "Friends of Lichtenberg Castle" (200 members). In 1861 the bergfried, which had become a 15 metre high ruin, collapsed and was demolished. Around 1900, the preservation society built a new tower on the old foundations, with the same hexagonal plan, which today has a wooden viewing platform with a height of about 25 metres. From the observation deck there are good views over the Harz Foreland to the Brocken. Investigations of the castle well showed it to be about 60 m deep and dug by hand. Since 2005, there has been a replica trebuchet, a medieval catapult engine, on the castle site. Next to the castle is a tourist restaurant with a beer garden and hotel.