Marienburg Castle (Germany)

This medieval/neo-Gothic castle built during the 19th century is located in Pattensen, Germany, about 20 kilometers south of Hannover (Lower Saxony).

Historically owned by the House of Hanover (one of the oldest royal houses in Europe), this castle – richly furnished and decorated from the beginning – is open to visitors as a museum.

King George V of Hanover (1819-1878) gave this romantic castle to his wife, Queen Marie of Saxony-Altenburg (1818-1907) for her 39th birthday.

Inspired by the castles of Hohenzollern, Stolzenfels and Sooneck, it was built with a drawbridge, a dungeon, a chapel, 130 rooms on five floors, a romantic park and an English garden, all situated in the heart of a vast forest estate.

The interior design was created by the interior architects Justus Heinrich Jakob Molthan and Hermann Narten and by the painter Otto Knille.

Following the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by the Kingdom of Prussia during the Austro-Prussian War and the exile of the Hanoverian royal family to Vienna in Austria, the castle remained uninhabited for 80 years (1869-1949).

It was the heirs of the House of Hanover, notably Ernest-Augustus of Brunswick (1887-1953) and Ernest-Augustus of Hanover (1914-1987), who reinstated it after the Second World War as the seat of the House of Hanover.

Then, Ernest-Auguste de Hanovre (1954) and finally Ernest-Auguste de Hanovre (1983) became successively owners in their turn.

The castle is then partially open to tourism and to rent for private events, with museum, restaurant, store…

Between 2004 and 2007, Ernest-Augustus of Hanover transferred three of his castles, including Marienburg, to his son Ernest-Augustus of Hanover.

Faced with major restoration work (27 million euros needed to renovate it), the 35-year-old decided to sell it in 2018 for a symbolic euro to the government of Lower Saxony!

This year (2021), the father (Ernest-Augustus of Hanover) decides to start legal proceedings against his son to try to recover his three castles.

ℹ️ An important part of the castle’s furniture and art objects were sold at auction in 2005 by Sotheby’s for €44 million.