Knoop Manor

The first documented mention of the Knoop estate dates back to 1322. The name Knoop, which means “knob” or “hump” in Low German, may derive from the presumed founder Lupus de Knope, who acquired the land around 1322. The estate changed hands several times, successively owned by the noble families of Knoop, von der Wisch, von Rantzau, and von Buchwaldt. In 1776, Heinrich Schimmelmann acquired the estate from the Baudissin family and transferred it to his daughter Caroline Adelheid Cornelia as a dowry. Around 1800, Knoop Manor, along with the neighboring Emkendorf Manor, developed into a cultural center of Schleswig-Holstein. The original moated castle, a 16th-century structure built by the Rantzaus, was demolished around 1800 after the current manor house was completed. This was built between 1792 and 1796 according to plans by the Danish architect Axel Bundsen in the Neoclassical style.