Confessions of a Castleholic

Today's castle may just look like a fancy half-timbered house but it is, in fact, called a Schloss . Located in a small village of the same name, Schloss Beuchow used to be a hunting lodge for the comital branch of the House of Lynar, an important Prussian noble family with their roots in Italy. The hunting lodge was built in 1746 and 1747 on the basis of a former medieval castle firstly mentioned in 1346. The half-timbered Baroque-style Schloss was often used by Count Rochus Friedrich of Lynar during hunts and later also hired out for fellow noble hunting parties.  In 1936, Count Wilhelm of Lynar let Schloss Beuchow to the Reich Labour Service. In September 1944, Count Wilhelm was executed for his involvement in the July 20 plot to kill Adolf Hitler. Around the same time, his family was also dispossessed by the Nazis. A crucial point when talking about the castle's later history. After the end of the Second World War, Schloss Beuchow lay in what became East German...

Yours truly fell in love, in love with the Spreewald. Its thousands of little canals and dozens of quaint villages. And while I cannot wait to discover all the beauty this region just south of Berlin has to offer in the summer time, I cannot help but thinking that a visit during the colourful weeks of autumn also gives it a special charm.  One of the stops during my visit? Schloss Lübbenau , the former home of the Counts of Lynar turned luxury hotel. Count Rochus of Lynar, an Italian military engineer who you can see depicted in the left photo, was the first of his family to move north of the Alps where he was employed by both the Electors of Saxony and Brandenburg among others constructing various fortifications. It was Rochus' daughter-in-law Elisabeth who, in 1621 after the passing of her husband, purchased the demesne of Lübbenau. And with it came - lucky for us - a Schloss .  Originally, a medieval moated castle was located on the same site as today's building. So...