The fortified Bremervörde Castle in Bremervörde in northern Lower Saxony was the largest castle complex in the region. It was razed and largely demolished in 1682 after various military conflicts. The preserved chancellery building now houses a museum.
The castle in 1653 in an engraving by Merian. Above the castle island you can see the outbuilding with the preserved, L-shaped chancellery building in the middle.
From the castle to the castle
Edit
The first castle complex on the site of the later castle was built at the behest of Lothar III at the beginning of the 12th century, between 1112 and 1122. Due to a ford over the Oste and its location on the historic Ochsenweg, the place was of strategic importance.
The castle, known as Castrum Voerde, passed to various owners after disputes, from the Counts of Stade to Henry the Lion and finally in 1219 to the Archbishopric of Bremen. Located roughly in the center of the diocese, the castle developed over the next few centuries into the largest fortress in the region and the seat of the central administration of the episcopal lands and the bailiffs. The complex was the residence of several of the Bremen bishops and was gradually expanded and extended from a castle to a palace. From the 16th century onwards, the building materials came mostly from the brickworks in neighboring Bevern.
At the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, the castle complex consisted of a fortified island surrounded by the Oste, which housed the magnificent, multi-winged Renaissance palace. Opposite the palace island was an outbuilding secured by bastions and to the south and east of the palace grounds, several representative pleasure and vegetable gardens were laid out.
During the war, the town and the castle were besieged and badly damaged in 1627 and 1646, and the castle was besieged again during the Danish-Swedish wars in 1657. During Swedish rule, the new rulers moved their seat of government to Stade and the newly built Agathenburg country castle. The formerly large castle complex in Bremervörde lost its importance. In 1682, the fortress was largely demolished and the ruins of the castle and the defensive structures were removed. Some of the building material that was released was used to build the Swedish granary in Stade.
The castle grounds today
Edit
Aerial photo with the chancellery building and the fortress's former moats
From the air, the basic structure of the fortress area, especially the outworks, can still be seen in parts. The castle islands in the Oste, the former ramparts and ditches, have, however, been reclaimed by nature over the last three centuries and today appear like a natural landscape.
No visible remains of the castle itself have survived. The so-called chancellery building - today the oldest building in the city - and a former stable are still standing from the former outbuilding. Both buildings served as the district building and district archive. Today they house the Bachmann Museum. Opposite the chancellery building is the new district building, a building from the 1960s, which occupies approximately the same location as the former castle.
The Bachmann Museum
Edit
The former chancellery building, today's Bachmann Museum
The Bachmann Museum is located in the former archbishop's chancellery building. The museum houses various exhibits on the archaeology, geology and history of the region, including the bog body from Bremervörde Gnattenbergswiesen. Various exhibitions are also presented here and readings or lectures are held.
In the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, the Bachmann Museum was a project funded by the state of Lower Saxony, which showed the special exhibition A House Makes History on the chancellery building.