Plau Castle

Plau Castle, also known as Plau Palace, is the ruin of a lowland castle on a headland in Lake Plau northeast of the town of Plau am See in the district of Ludwigslust-Parchim in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

As early as 1287, Prince Nikolaus II of Werle founded a small palace-like castle on a headland extending into Lake Plau. By contract dated August 24, 1448, Duke Heinrich IV commissioned the former bailiff in Stavenhagen, Lüdeke Hahn (Ludolf III Hahn, † March 17, 1480), to expand the palace complex into a defensible castle. By raising the castle wall and digging a moat, it acquired an island character and served in particular to prevent the frequent plundering by robber knights who invaded southern Mecklenburg from Brandenburg. Lüdeke Hahn completed the expansion of the castle in 1463 and left Plau again.

In 1538, Heinrich V "the Peaceful" had a new bridge house built and, in the 1540s, expanded the castle into an important fortress; among other things, the parapets were raised and the moats deepened. Plau Castle became the first ducal state fortress and remained so until the end of the Thirty Years' War. In the 16th century, the still-preserved round keep with its thick walls and dungeon was also built, in which a governor also had to endure seven years.

After 1660, the fortress was razed by the inhabitants without the Duke's permission. Preserved are the ramparts, the keep with its 11-meter-deep dungeon, and the Amts- und Postmeisterhaus (administrative and postmaster's house) built in 1822 on the vaulted cellar of the former palace. In the castle courtyard, there is a technical museum with historical machines.