Winsen Castle

A very pretty castle surrounded by a beautiful castle park. Before the castle was built, there was already a castle on this site. It is not known when exactly it was built, but it was probably built around the year 1200.

The castle originated from a castle at a transition of the Luhe and was first mentioned in documents in 1315. Another document from the year 1277 indicates, however, that the castle probably already existed at this time. At the beginning of the Lüneburg War of Succession in 1371 Duke Magnus II was forced to relocate the Großvogtei Lüneburg to Winsen. The Winsener castle served from then on as Großgogtei Winsen and managed the Welfischen goods in the northern part of the Principality of Lüneburg, which was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the castle and its lands were mortgaged several times by the dukes. Thus it belonged 1374 to 1389 the advice of the city Lueneburg, went in 1396 to Hamburg and Luebeck, was from 1434 intermittently again in the possession of Lueneburg and went from 1493 to 1523 even to the electors of Saxonia. At the beginning of the 17th century, the castle was the scene of several witch trials. Schulz-Egestorf estimates the number of "so-called witches" convicted in Winsen in the years 1611-1614 "from judge to fire death" and finally burned before the "Luhdorfer Tore" to thirty.In the course of the Thirty Years' War, the fortifications of the castle were strengthened, in 1628 it served as a temporary headquarters for Tilly and his staff. After the Thirty Years' War, the castle was only used as the seat of the officers of the Office Winsen. In 1852, the district court moved into the rooms, from 1885 the castle also housed the district administration of the district Winsen until the district reform in 1932, where the district Winsen in the district Harburg rose and the seat of the district administration went to the district Harburg. Due to the war-related destruction of the district office in Harburg, the district administration was in 1944 relocated to the Winsener Castle and four barracks in the castle park. There, the district administration remained until it moved in 1961 into a new building in the immediate vicinity of the castle. For some time, the land registry remained in the castle until it moved into its own building in the 1990s. Today, the district court Winsen is the sole user of the castle.Source Wikipedia:
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schloss_Winsen

The castle in Winsen was first mentioned in a document in 1299, it was probably built around 1230. The moated castle initially served repeatedly as the temporary seat of the sovereigns. After the outbreak of the War of Succession in Lüneburg in 1371, the administration of the Upper Bailiwick was relocated to the castle.
After the death of her husband, Duke Wilhelm the Younger, Duchess Dorothea, the daughter of the Danish King Christian III, moved into the palace as a widow's residence in 1593. She had the castle rebuilt. At that time it was essentially given the shape it still has today. Witch trials took place here around 1610. After the Duchess' death in 1617, the palace became the administrative seat of the Hanoverian office of Winsens, later of the Prussian district of Winsens.
The state of Lower Saxony is the owner of the castle. This is where the local court has its seat. The palace chapel is now open to the public for cultural events and also for weddings. No wonder that the castle is one of the most photographed objects in Winsen in May. Dozens of newlyweds have their wedding photo taken against this backdrop. The castle is located on the northern edge of the castle park. To the south of the castle there is a beautiful castle pond

Info: winsen.de/portal/seiten