Boitzenburg Castle
The manor house Boitzenburg Castle in Boitzenburger Land is one of the largest castles in the Uckermark . It was the ancestral home of the von Arnim family for centuries and is now a hotel for children and young people.
history
A castle in Boitzenburg on an old settlement in Lake Tytzen was first mentioned in 1276, but was probably built earlier (from 1250). Margrave Wilhelm von Meißen recaptured Boitzenburg Castle from the Mecklenburgers in 1398. After a few changes of ownership, the manor came into the possession of the von Arnim family for the first time in 1427, and from 1528 onwards (by exchanging for Zehdenick Castle ). From the 16th century the division into an upper house and a lower house can be proven. While the higher-lying "upper house" in its architectural form, which was preserved in 1537/38, with the mid-buildings characteristic of the Renaissance has been preserved to this day, the assemblies of the "lower house", which was expanded around 1600 and which were built on the site of the former outer bailey, experienced multiple interventions structural changes and extensions. The castle was partially destroyed in the Thirty Years War . From around 1740 to 1750 under Georg Dietloff von Arnim, the still characteristic shape of the lower house was created by building two new wings as a three-wing complex with a mansard roof and a large courtyard, which at that time could still be reached via the old castle entrance through the Corp de Logis and from one of them generous terrace stairs led into the park. At the same time, a large baroque garden was created on the east and south sides of the castle island . In 1832 the politician Adolf von Arnim-Boitzenburg was born at Boitzenburg Castle . In the 19th century the castle underwent two more major renovations: from 1838–1842 it was expanded in the neo-Gothic style by Friedrich August Stüler .
The castle is located on an island that was designed around 1840 by Peter Joseph Lenné as a magnificent landscape park in the English style. It protrudes from a sea of beeches and oaks surrounded by water and meadows. Until 1918 it was the center of one of the largest estates (with approx. 13,900 hectares) of the Kingdom of Prussia and one of the parent houses of the aristocratic family von Arnim from the Kurmark. Since 1833, the Boitzenburg possessions formed a Fideikommiss , which was renewed in 1852 and raised to a county in 1856 by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV.
From 1881 to 1884 the castle was completely rebuilt again. The architect was Carl Doflein , who, in the sense of a historicizing neo-renaissance , brought the palace back to its original appearance with steep roofs, dormers, dwelling houses, etc. Renaissance remodeled. It has essentially been preserved in this form to this day and was restored from 1999 to 2005.
After 1945 a large part of the valuable inventory was lost. The rulership archive was transferred to the newly founded Brandenburg State Main Archive in Potsdam in 1949, where it was made accessible and can be used. From around 1955 to 1990 the palace was used as a rest home by the GDR's National People's Army . In 1998 the Hamburg investor Oliver Erbacher bought the castle for the symbolic price of one mark and converted it into a hotel for children and young people in the youth hostel style for school classes and families with 350 beds in line with his “pony hotel” concept.
The renovation of the palace was funded with public funds. After the renovation, however, there were allegations that the investor had not invested the necessary amount of this money in the renovation, but rather diverted parts of it for himself. The Investment Bank of the State of Brandenburg had provided 23 million euros in funding , which the investor was originally supposed to add another 23 million from its own funds. In addition, another 10–12 million euros in subsidies flowed from the Eberswalde employment agency and the State Agency for Structure and Labor (LASA). When “Boitzenburg KG” had to file for bankruptcy in 2004, however, the insolvency administrator found that a total of only 18.5 million euros had gone into the renovation of the castle. The investor had not only invested no equity, but had diverted funds of 14-17 million euros for other purposes. The insolvency administrator alerted the investment bank and the Brandenburg Ministry of Economics, which passed the case on to the Potsdam public prosecutor. The economic committee of the Brandenburg state parliament also dealt with the case in October 2005.
Stables
In the royal stables , which are part of the palace ensemble, there are event and catering rooms , as well as foam factories for chocolate, ice cream, cakes, a coffee roastery and a brewery .
Literature (selection)
- Ernst Daniel Martin Kirchner: The Boytzenburg Castle and its owners, especially from the von Arnim family. Edited from the sources. Berlin 1860. ( E-copy. )
- Hartmut Harnisch: The Boitzenburg rule. Studies on the development of the socio-economic structure of rural areas in the Mark Brandenburg from the 14th to the 19th century. In: Publications of the Potsdam State Archives, Vol. 6, Weimar 1968.
- Sieghart Graf von Arnim: Friedrich Wilhelm Graf von Arnim (1739–1801). Between tradition and progress in horticulture and forestry. In: From the German Aristocratic Archives nF Volume 8, Limburg an der Lahn 2005.
- Gerhard Birk : On the fate of aristocratic archives in the post-war period - illustrated using the example of von Arnim's estate and family archive in Boitzenburg / Uckermark. In: Brandenburg State History and Archive Studies. Festschrift for Lieselott Enders on her 70th birthday, ed. by Friedrich Beck and Klaus Neitmann . Weimar 1997, pp. 381-397.
- Angela Beeskow, Detlev von Heydebrand: Boitzenburg. Castles and Gardens of the Mark. Friends of the Palaces and Gardens of the Mark. Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-87584-416-5 / ISBN 3-87584-491-2 .
- Beatrix Bluhm: On the building history of Boitzenburg Castle. In: Landmarks. A journey of discovery through Brandenburg-Prussia. Catalog for the opening exhibition of the House of Brandenburg-Prussian History, Berlin 2001, pp. 226–230.
- Beatrix Bluhm, Detlev von Heydebrand, Hans-Joachim Stahl: Boitzenburg Castle in the Uckermark. History and present. Angermünde 2011.
Trivia
The outdoor shots for the German feature film Napoleon is to blame for everything (1938) with Curt Goetz and Valérie von Martens was shot here. There were also recordings for the fairy tale film Rapunzel (2009) and for the TV show 4 Weddings and a Dream Trip (2013).
Web links
- Entry in the monument database of the State of Brandenburg
- Homepage Castle Hotel Boitzenburg
- Plan of Boitzenburg Castle from 1780
Coordinates: 53 ° 15 ′ 37.4 " N , 13 ° 36 ′ 8.3" E