Marienburg Castle

Marienburg Castle near Pattensen, south of Hanover, is a Gothic Revival fantasy built as a birthday gift from King George V of Hanover to his wife Queen Marie in 1857. Designed by Conrad Wilhelm Hase, one of the leading Gothic Revival architects in Germany, the castle was constructed between 1857 and 1867 as a neo-Gothic idealisation of a medieval knights castle. It perches on a densely wooded hill and combines the functions of a royal summer residence and a historicist architectural statement. The building follows a roughly triangular plan around a central courtyard, with towers, turrets, pointed arches, a gatehouse, crenellated battlements, and a prominent bergfried keep. The materials are local sandstone and brick, and Hases attention to medieval building techniques gives the castle a convincing period character. The interior was substantially modernised in the early 20th century under the Welf family, upgrading heating and plumbing and adding Arts and Crafts-style wallpapers. The Welf collection displayed in the state rooms includes family portraits, silver, porcelain, and furniture from the Guelph dynasty. The castle was confiscated by the Prussian state after the annexation of Hanover in 1866 but was returned to the Welf family in 1933. The 30-hectare deer park with walking trails surrounds the castle. It is a 25-minute drive from central Hanover.