Confessions of a Castleholic

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...

Well... Hi there, long time no post, I know. Truthfully yours truly was a bit castled out the last few weeks. I actually still visited a bunch of them - as always  you can follow my latest adventures on Instagram - but with lots of other things going on, I just didn't feel like editing pictures, writing and everything else that goes into this tiny space on the world wide web. But with the big C-word holding all our lives in a tight grip at the moment, I thought that you and me both could use some escapism. And so in today's post, we are having a closer look at a castle I visited in the fall of last year. Schloss Lübben  may not be the most visually remarkable castle featured on this blog but it definitely has the most curious castle tower of them all even beating the white tower of Schloss Bad Homburg . Frankly, you don't even really recognise it as a tower at first glance as it is an entirely separate building. (Can you spot it in the right photo above? Yep, that ...

Sometimes being a Castleholic means wading through scrubs to at least catch a glimpse of a castle.  Behind the bushes and trees you can see the outlines of Schloss Frauenberg in Lübben. I only learned later that you can apparently call the owner and arrange to get on the estate that's history goes back all the way to the Middle Ages. The land Schloss Frauenberg is situated on used to be the place of the only monastery of the Order of Hermits of Saint William located east of the Elbe river. Following the Reformation, the last monks were forced to flee from Frauenberg and the monastery was secularised. It subsequently became one of the seats of the bailiff of Lower Lusatia and about a dozens or so noble families lived at Frauenberg during the following almost 400 years. The current Schloss Frauenberg was built during the early 20th century in the Wilhelmian style popular during the reigns of Kaiser Wilhelm I, Kaiser Friedrich III, who only reigned for 99 days, ...

Sometimes castle hunting adventures are all fun and games - and sometimes they make you think. Schloss Golssen was one of those places that did the latter. The ravages of time clearly had their way with it. Boarded up windows, graffitis one its walls - the glory days of Schloss Golssen are clearly a thing of the past. It's a destiny that you will find with plentiful castles and palaces in Brandenburg and thus also in the future of Confessions of a Castleholic .  Back in the day, things with Schloss Golssen started out a lot more rosy. The origins of the current Schloss go back to the year 1720 when it was built by Prussian court official Johann Justus Vieth, who was later ennobled as Vieth von Golssenau. In 1771, Siegmund Ehrenreich of Redern purchased the castle. After his death almost two decades later, it was his daughter Amalie who inherited the estate. Married to Sardinian envoy at the Spanish court Count Nepomuk Fontana de Cravanzana, she lived at Golssen for...