Confessions of a Castleholic

Just a few metres away from the Oldenburger Schloss lies another, smaller royal residence known as the Prinzenpalais (prince's palace). It was Grand Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig of Oldenburg who commissioned the construction of the palace in June 1821. He intended for the palace to be used by his two orphaned grandsons, the princes Peter and Alexander, sons of Prince Georg of Oldenburg and Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia. Construction on the two-storey Classicist Prinzenpalais was finished by 1826. However, the two princes only lived at the palace for three years as Alexander moved to Russia following the deaths of both his older brother and grandfather in 1829. His cousin Nikolaus Friedrich Peter took over the property in 1852 about a year before succeeding to the throne as Grand Duke Peter II of Oldenburg. He made several changes to the structure during the 1860's including the addition of a second and third wing by architects Carl Boos and Heinrich Strac...

The Erbprinzenpalais in Rastede, these days mostly shortened to Palais , lies across the country road from Schloss Rastede  near Oldenburg in a small English landscape park. After several changes in ownership, it was Grand Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig of Oldenburg who purchased the original building, presumably built by a member of the noble Schmettau family, for his son and heir Peter Friedrich August in 1822. The palace was henceforth known as the Erbprinzenpalais (Hereditary Prince's palace). To reflect the status of the family, the original single-floor lodge was enhanced by the addition of a two-storey avant-corps.  The full second floor was added later on by the future Grand Duke Nikolaus Friedrich Peter - Those Oldenburgs do love their triple names, don't they?! - in his day as the Hereditary Grand Duke. It was also Nikolaus Friedrich Peter who gave the small palace its current outer appearance combining historicism and Gründerzeit elements alike during renova...

Last Sunday, I asked you what to do with Confessions of a Castleholic  because there were no castle I had previously visited left to write about on here. While you did shoot me some great ideas over on Twitter what I could do, I just couldn't help myself - and I went castle hunting again! This time, I went Oldenburg, the capital of the former Grand Duchy of the same name in Northern Germany, and also made the way to the small town of Rastede nearby, where the family's summer residence was located. While the major Schloss in Oldenburg is now owned by the state of Lower Saxony, this gem is still in the hands of the ducal family. Schloss Rastede received its current appearance under the order of Grand Duke Paul Friedrich August of Oldenburg in 1838 replacing a previous Baroque palace located on the same site. The origins of the estate go back even further all the way to the 11th century when an abbey was founded in the village. Religious life at Rastede, however, came t...