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The castle houses Schleswig-Holstein's most important museums and is involved in a wide range of cultural events. In addition to changing exhibitions (including those by contemporary artists), theater performances in the courtyard and concerts are held at irregular intervals. The entire grounds and many of the interior rooms are open to visitors. Some of the castle's original furnishings have been preserved and can be viewed as part of the museum tours. Of particular note are the festive Hirschsaal (Stag Hall) from 1591 and the two-story Renaissance chapel. The castle is considered the most important secular building in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.

At the beginning of 1945, more and more refugees from the eastern territories of the German Reich arrived in Schleswig, their number rising to almost 18,000 by the summer. Gottorf, like many of the country's residences, was used as a temporary reception camp, and several hundred refugees were housed in the castle.[31] In the post-war period, the entire complex was made available to the Schleswig-Holstein State Museums from 1948 onwards.

After the war of 1848, the Danes first set up a hospital and then a barracks in the castle,[22] in order to be able to operate more effectively against the insurgents in Schleswig-Holstein. The building was adapted to the new needs, and the interior lost much of its once significant furnishings. The former state rooms and ducal apartments were converted into dormitories and dining rooms. The outbuildings were demolished and replaced by extensive stables, and the defensive structures were demolished. Gottorf remained a barracks[22] when it fell to Prussia in 1867 as a result of the Second Schleswig War, and it retained this function until 1945.

Subsequently, Gottorf became the center of power of the Dukes of Schleswig and was repeatedly at the center of political conflicts. In 1283, the young Duke Waldemar IV of Schleswig was imprisoned in the castle for a time by the Danish King Eric V. In 1329, Gottorf was besieged for the first time (unsuccessfully) by a coalition of Jutland nobles in their fight against Count Gerhard III of Holstein, who had served as Duke for several years.[6] In June 1340, the castle was transferred as a pledge into the permanent possession of the Counts of Holstein from the House of Schauenburg,[7] who resided in Gottorf until their extinction in 1459. Initially as counts, after Count Gerhard VI was invested with the duchy by the Danish regent Margaret I in 1386[8], then formally again as dukes.[9]

After the Schleswig bishop Niels II was captured during the Battle of Lohheide in 1261, Gottorf became the property of Duke Eric I of Schleswig. In return, the bishops received lands on the lower reaches of the Treene, where the episcopal castle of Schwabstedt was built a short time later.[4] It was only the duke, as the contemporary annals of the Rude monastery report, who had a new castle built "at great expense", which replaced the older ducal castle on the Möweninsel in the Schlei.

The present-day castle, on an island in the Schlei west of the town, had several predecessor buildings, but little is known about their function and appearance. The oldest structures date to the 13th century and possibly originate from a residence of the bishops of Schleswig called Klein-Gottorf. The name goes back to an older, still visible complex called Alt- or Groß-Gottorf in the Ruhekrug near the Falkenberg estate, which, according to the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, was destroyed around 1161.[2] As a result, the residence was probably relocated to the more centrally located Klein-Gottorf, where a possibly barely fortified half-timbered building with warm-air heating was built around the middle of the 13th century.

The state's largest castle was owned by the Danish royal family and the dukes of Schleswig. After Denmark's annexation of the Gottorf portion of the Duchy of Schleswig in 1713, the castle served as the seat of the Royal Danish Governor in Schleswig, subsequently being used as a barracks. Today, it houses two Schleswig-Holstein state museums and the Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Gottorf Castle Foundation. To the north of the castle, the Neuwerk Garden, one of the first Baroque terraced gardens in Northern Europe, has been reconstructed in recent years.

It is a steam locomotive of the 012 series (01.10 oil), which hauled heavy express trains here until the 1970s.