Dankwarderode Castle

Dankwarderode Castle (German: Burg Dankwarderode) on the Burgplatz ("castle square") in Braunschweig (Brunswick) is a Saxon lowland castle. It was the residence of the Brunswick dukes for centuries and, today, is part of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum.

Dankwarderode Castle
Burg Dankwarderode
Braunschweig
Burg Dankwarderode
Dankwarderode Castle
Coordinates52°15′53″N 10°31′27″E
Typelowland castle
CodeDE-NI
Site information
ConditionReconstruction from the 19th/20th centuries
Site history
Built12th century
Garrison information
Occupantshigher nobility
Museum Burg Dankwarderode
Dankwarderode Castle, rebuilt 1887–1906
Established1963
LocationBrunswick
TypeMedieval Division of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum
ArchitectLudwig Winter (Reconstruction 1887–1906)
OwnerNiedersächsische Landesmuseen Braunschweig
Websitehttp://www.haum.niedersachsen.de

Construction and history of use

Dankwarderode Castle was built between c. 1160 and 1175 as the Pfalz of Duke Henry the Lion on an island in the river Oker. Next to the castle, construction of Brunswick Cathedral began in 1173. The castle lost its military significance as a defensive structure early, when it became surrounded completely by the growing city.

During the 15th century, the dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel moved their Residenz out of the city and to the nearby town of Wolfenbüttel.[1] In 1616 the palas was remodelled in the renaissance style, while the rest of the castle was demolished or left to decay. During the 19th century, the castle keep served as a barrack, plans to demolish it completely were stopped by public protests in 1873. The present structure was rebuilt in 1887 by Ludwig Winter, based on archaeological investigations. Today the ground floor of Dankwarderode Castle houses the permanent collection of medieval objects of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum.[2]

  • Castle courtyard
  • Dankwarderode Castle c. 1200, artist's impression by Ludwig Winter (1884)
  • Dankwarderode in the 18th century
  • Dankwarderode c. 1720
  • Dankwarderode c. 1865
  • Great Hall
  • Brunswick Lion, original on display in the museum.
  • Arm reliquary of Saint Blaise on display in the museum.
  • Dankwarderode Castle on the Burgplatz by night.


Sources
  • Reinhold Wex: Burg Dankwarderode, in: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon, herausgegeben im Auftrag der Stadt Braunschweig von Luitgard Camerer, Manfred R. W. Garzmann und Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf unter besonderer Mitarbeit von Norman-Mathias Pingel, Brunswick, 1992, page 52, ISBN 3-926701-14-5.
  • Georg Dehio: Handbuch der deutschen Kunstdenkmäler, Bremen/Niedersachsen, Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1977.
  • Richard Moderhack: Braunschweiger Stadtgeschichte, Brunswick, 1997.

References
  1. Moderhack, Richard (1997). Braunschweiger Stadtgeschichte (in German). pp. 60–69.
  2. Duke Anton Ulrich Museum. Retrieved on 8 May 2013.
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