Marienburg Castle
Description
Marienburg Castle is a Gothic revival castle in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was built between 1858 and 1867 as a birthday present by George V of Hanover to his wife, Marie of Saxe-Altenburg. When Prussia annexed Hanover in 1866 after the battle of Langensalza, the royal family emigrated to Gmunden in Austria, leaving the castle uninhabited for almost 80 years.
Consequently, Marienburg is well preserved, as few renovation occurred until the, no longer royal, family moved back in late 1945, decades after the German revolution and proclamation of the republic at the end of World War I. Ernest Augustus and his wife Viktoria Luise moved to Marienburg from Blankenburg Castle, just a few days before it became part of the Soviet occupation zone at the end of World War II. In 1954 their son, Ernest Augustus IV, opened the castle museum after having moved to nearby Calenberg Demesne.
Today Marienburg is the property of the Marienburg Castle Foundation and is closed for renovations expected to take until 2030.