Confessions of a Castleholic

Lo and behold: a new castle for Castleholic! Located on a 218 metres high hill by the same name, Burg Wohldenberg was built as a strategic defensive post. Hard to capture due to the steep hill it stands on and located above two important medieval trading routes, it was originally owned by the Counts of Wöltingerode. The Burg was built between 1153 and 1160 by the counts who had recently come into the possession of land in the area.  While only parts of the castle still remain to this day, it originally consisted of three courtyards. It's most striking feature to this day is a 32 metres high Bergfried tower offering views over the surrouding area. In 1174, it was Count Ludolf I of Wöltingerode who made Burg Wohldenberg his residence after turning his ancestral home in Wöltingerode into a monastery. His descendants started to call themselves after their new home and so the family name evolved via Waldeberch to Wohldenberg. During the dispute between Holy Roman Emperor ...

This one started it all, folks. The source of all evil my interest in royalty, the Fürstenhaus Herrenhausen in Hanover. It was a visit to this building - as well as an exhibition at the Landesmuseum - together with my school that sparked my interest in all things royal. Located next to the north-eastern edge of the baroque Great Garden of the Herrenhausen Gardens, the Fürstenhaus is now closed and solely used as a private residence by the Guelph family. Literally translating to "princely house", the Fürstenhaus is a mansion-like building which was originally known as the Delitzsche Palais . The original owner of the mansion was Countess Louise of Delitz, one of the three daughters of King George I of Great Britain, the first Hanoverian ruler on the British throne, and his mistress Countess Melusine von der Schulenburg. The King had gifted the then timber-framed building to his illegitimate daughter in 1721. In the following decades, the ownership of the Delitzsche Pal...