Confessions of a Castleholic

Right in the heart of Baruth, a small town just south of Berlin, sits a Schloss whose former glory is slowly fading away. Boarded up windows, shattered glass and unresolved property rights - Schloss Baruth 's future looks fairly bleak. Things, however, started out a lot more glamorous back in the day... The oldest part of the castle complex commonly called Schloss Baruth or Neues (New) Schloss Baruth  dates back to the 18th century and actually started out as a garden house. Already since the late 16th century, the Lordship of Baruth had been held by one of the many branches of the extensive Solms family who originally came from Hesse. As you probably already guessed, when there is a 'new castle', there must be an 'old castle'. Located just a stone's throw away, the Altes Schloss Baruth , which you can see in the last two pictures of this post, was built starting in 1671 on the basis of an even older medieval castle. The fairly smallish Altes Schl...

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...

Today in Hanover, Hereditary Prince Ernst-August of Hanover married Ekaterina Malysheva . Here are some of the guests, in no particular order... Margrave Max and Margravine Valerie of Baden, née Archduchess Valerie of Austria, with their son Prince Michael and his wife Princess Christina of Baden.  Count Friedrich of Ortenburg and his wife Countess Christine, née Baroness of Wangenheim, with their sons Max and Albert, who were two of the page boys. Count Karl of Solms-Laubach and I presume one of his daughters.  Andrés and Lauren Santo Domingo. Another picture of  Andrés and Lauren Santo Domingo.  Prince Georg-Friedrich of Prussia and his wife Princess Sophie, née Princess of Isenburg. Another picture of the couple. Prince Heinrich of Hanover, uncle of the groom, his wife Princess Thyra, née von Westernhagen, and their sons Prince Albert and Prince Julius.  Another picture of Prince Heinrich and Princess Thyra of Hanover. ...