Confessions of a Castleholic

From the Prussian palaces of Potsdam to plentiful noble homes scattered all around the state, we have probably covered dozens and a dozen more of castles located in Brandenburg, the German state surrounding Berlin. (Find all of them here .) But still, there are a gazillion more to discover, so here are ten castles you have probably never heard of. Most of them actually aren't open to the public yet many of them have surrounding parks you can stroll through. How I visit them? These sorts of castles usually aren't the main destination of my days out castle hunting. I either see them on the way to or back from places open to the public or I try to include them in a hike. Schloss Wiesenburg Schloss Wiesenburg may just be the most idyllically located of all idyllically located castles on this list. Looking over a large park, its origins date back to the Middle Ages when a fortified castle was located on the same site. The oldest parts of today's Renaissance-style  Schloss dat...

We have covered plenty of Prussian palaces here on Confessions of a Castleholic , we even have a post on how many Prussian palaces you can see in a day. ( It's five, in case you wondered. ) But today, we are going to have a look at two pretty unknown palaces of the Hohenzollern family that once ruled as German Emperors: Schloss Paretz and Schloss Caputh . Never heard of them? Don't worry, neither had I before I moved to Berlin and got myself an annual ticket to the Prussian palaces surrounding the German capital. The fact that we know fairly little about them probably has as much to do with their location as well as their less ornate decoration. Schloss Caputh "Less ornate?", you may ask. "But that's a Baroque palace!" And right you are. But as it is an early example of Baroque architecture in this region,  Schloss Caputh  may not compare to the more lavishly decorated Rococo palaces of nearby Park Sanssouci in many peoples eyes. The palace located on ...

A Baroque church in Brandenburg? Yes, that exists! Admittedly, the northern half of Germany isn't naturally blessed with a lot of beautiful Baroque churches. While there are plentiful in the southern Catholic half of the country, northern Germany is the heart of famously frugal and restraint Lutheran protestantism. So Kloster Neuzelle is quite the exception, a Baroque treasure on the German-Polish border hidden among a plethora of (Neo-)Gothic churches. Neuzelle Abbey was founded as "Nova Cella" in 1268 by Heinrich the Illustrious, Margrave of Meissen and Lusatia. The aim was to Christianise the recently conquered surrounding Sorbian lands. The first Abbey was built between 1300 and 1330 in typical local Gothic brick style. During the 15th century, it was repeatedly destroyed by the Hussites. As the monks refused to convert to the teachings of Jan Hus, they were banished or killed. Despite, Neuzelle Abbey survived the reformation as the only Catholic monastery in all of ...

Historically speaking, Berlin wasn't your prime European metropolis along the lines of Paris or London for many centuries. A frugal backwater somewhere in the north of the German-speaking nations, it only gained prominence during the mid-18th and 19th century. After the unification of Germany in 1871, Berlin became the new capital of the Prussian dominated German Empire. It was also the time of the industrialisation of Germany and so around the same time, a lot of noble homes started to spring up all around Berlin. Today, I'm taking you to six of those in the Oder-Spree administrative district east of Berlin. All of them can be easily reached on a day out from the German capital. The star of the show of today's post undoubtedly is Schloss Neuhardenberg . The originally Baroque palace was redesigned in the Neo-Classical style for Chancellor Karl August Prince of Hardenberg by no other than Prussia's most famous architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The Schloss had been gif...

So just how many castles and palaces can you visit in a day? Of course that depends on lots of things, especially whether the places you visit are open or closed to the public. Probably my record for castles actually open to visitors is five. Where I achieved this feat? In Potsdam, a preferred residence of the Prussian kings and the German Kaiser until 1918 just outside of Berlin. And while I managed to squeeze in five in a day, you could actually visit about three times as many palaces if you like in Potsdam. Pro tip of the day: Get yourself a  sanssouci+ ticket that allows entrance to all of the plentiful palaces of Potsdam in a day. With it, you book a fixed admission time slot for viewing Schloss Sanssouci . To be able to better plan the day, I chose mine for shortly after 10am. The private summer residence of King Friedrich the Great of Prussia is always the most crowded of places in Potsdam. While it certainly is one of the most famous palaces in all of Germany, it is ac...

Well, let's change things up a little but here on  Confessions of a Castleholic ... So far I ever only wrote about castles I actually saw. After some 200 castles and palaces, it's time for something new. So here's Schloss Schenkendorf , henceforth also known as the castle I never properly laid eyes on. Visiting castles that aren't open to the public can always be a bit of hit and miss. You never quite know how much you will be able to see. There's a reason why I go on these kinds of castle hunting adventures to castles not open to the public usually during the winter months - because there is no greenery in the way. Looking back, it is actually quite surprising that I never had a total miss before. So, Schloss Schenkendorf definitely is a first in that regard - it boasts in impressive gate though, non?! This castle just south of Berlin owes its existence to publisher and businessman Rudolf Mosse. He commissioned the construction of the Neo-Classical style S...

Truth be told, Schloss Königs Wusterhausen is not the most visually remarkable of Prussian castles even though it bears the royal in the name. But somehow it is also a reflection of the man who made this castle famous, King Friedrich Wilhelm II. Known as the Soldier King, he was famously frugal. It is sometimes said that he was the only Prussian King to never build a castle (though I have some doubts about it considering Friedrich III only reigned for 99 days...) There is no doubt, however, that Friedrich Wilhelm II detested all kind of splendour and his hunting lodge in Königs Wusterhausen is a reflection of that, even though it was slightly more splendrous back in the day than it is now.  The current castle is based on a 14th century moated castle firstly mentioned in 1320. Towards the end of the 14th century, the castle was owned by the noble von Schlieben family. In 1475, the Schenken von Landsberg became the new owners of the castle. They remained so for almost 200 y...

Schloss Zeesen may just be the saddest looking former Prussian royal residence (though this Castleholic isn't entirely certain whether it actually was a royal residence or just a castle owned by a royal). There is not doubt, however, that the ravages of time have played their game with Schloss Zeesen located on the outskirts of Königs Wusterhausen just south of Berlin. Built by Baron Eberhard of Danckelmann according to plans by Johann Arnold Nering around the year 1688, the castle on the shore of a lake came into the hands of the Prussian royal family in 1697. Danckelmann served as the Prime Minister of Brandenburg-Prussia until that year but after political quarrels, Margrave Friedrich III of Brandenburg, the future first King in Prussia, seized his estates. The King gifted Schloss Zeesen to his son and heir, the future Friedrich Wilhelm I, who would become known as the Soldier King. Friedrich Wilhelm regularly spent the hunting season at nearby Schloss Königs Wusterhausen ...

At first glance, Schulzendorf is just one of the hundreds of villages scattered in the vicinity of Berlin. At second glance, when driving through the village, it is hard to miss its unique selling point: It's Schloss . Located in the heart of the village and a former knight's estate, Schloss Schulzendorf owes its current appearance to Jewish businessmen Moritz and Richard Israel. The first castle on the same site, built during the late 17th or early 18th century, was owned by David Gottlob von Gersdorf. The military man sold the estate and castle to non other than King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia in 1718. The Hohenzollern held onto the estate for a good 100 years until they sold it to Baron Eberhard von der Reck(e) in 1812 in order to generate liquid funds. It was von der Reck(e) who built the church located on the castle grounds.  During the course of the 19th century, Schloss Schenkendorf changed hands twice more. First to Meyer Jacobson and, in 1888, to Mo...