Celle Castle

Celle Castle was one of the residences of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg. This quadrangular building is the largest castle in the southern Lüneburg Heath region.

Celle Castle is based on a 10th century fortified wall tower (Wehrturm) that guarded a ford over the River Aller. Another forerunner of the castle, which may have been an extension of the wall tower, was founded in 1292 by Otto the Strict. The cellar vault and the lower stories of the watch tower have survived to the present day underneath the castle theatre.

Around 1315 the actual Castrum Celle was first recorded. About a century later the castle was further expanded by Frederick the Pious from 1471 to 1478, and the castle chapel was consecrated in 1485. Ernest I the Confessor had the castle decorated from 1530 in the Renaissance style. At the same time, between 1520 and 1560, the defences, in the form of ramparts and bastions, were pushed further out. At this time the castle was typical of its era, a quadrangular building with a rectangular courtyard, massive corner towers, a large main tower and characteristic features of Weser Renaissance.

From 1670 onwards alterations to the castle were carried out by Duke George William, which were intended to transform the old renaissance seat into a contemporary Residenz. George William was keen on building, typical of the princes of his time, and made further changes that were intended to recall his time in Italy. The façades, that were copied from Venetian buildings, were then given their present-day appearance. Notable features include the corona of gables that encircles the roofs, and the unusual shape of the domed towers. The addition of the castle theatre and the Baroque state rooms stem from this period.

On the death of George William in 1705 the absolute rule of the dukes ended. The Principality of Lüneburg subsequently passed, along with the Principality of Calenberg, to the Kingdom of Hanover. The castle lost its political significance and stood empty again for a long time. From 1772 it was occupied by the British-born Danish queen, Caroline Matilda, the daughter of Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, who had been banished to Celle as a result of her affair with Johann Friedrich Struensee of Copenhagen. The unhappy queen only lived at the Celle court until 1775, when she died at a relatively young age of scarlet fever. In the 19th century, the castle was occasionally used by the Hanoverian royal household as a summer residence. As a result, Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves had several interior alterations made in 1839 and 1840.

Architecture

The castle still has a variety of rooms and halls that date back to different periods. The court chapel was converted after the Reformation and has been preserved almost unchanged with its renaissance architecture. The baroque-style staterooms were created under George William and have also been preserved. In the Gothic Hall there are constantly changing exhibitions and in the East Wing is a section of Celle's Bomann Museum, which is dedicated to the history of the Kingdom of Hanover. The historic castle rooms and the castle chapel restored between 1978 and 1981, may be visited as part of a guided tour.

The court theatre of the castle, the Schlosstheater Celle, is one of the oldest preserved theatres of its kind and one of the few baroque theatres in North Germany. It still has its own theatre company today. The construction work on the theatre began in 1670 and was largely finished by 1675.

Castle Park

Because the castle was never used for any military purposes, between 1785 and 1802 the outer bastions were dismantled and used as fill for the once deep, wide castle moats. In 1826 gardens were laid out in the vicinity of the castle by levelling and removing the defensive embankments. In their place, trees and shrubs were planted and lawns laid. In the 19th century, a landscape garden was created in the area immediately surrounding the castle. Since part of the park was given away for building residential accommodation around 1900, the park has retained an area of about 7 hectares. The castle still sits on an island today that is surrounded by moats.

Outside the former defensive belt, but not far from the castle, George William had the French Garden (Französischer Garten), a baroque park designed on French lines, laid out in the late 17th century. This was later converted to an English landscape garden, but the former baroque layout can still be made out in certain areas of the park.

Address
Schloßplatz 1A, Celle, Germany

Established
15th century