Leine Palace

The origins of the Leineschloss date back to 1291, when a Minorite monastery was established on this site, which was secularized during the Reformation in 1533. Duke Georg of Brunswick and Lüneburg-Calenberg initiated the construction of a half-timbered castle on the monastery grounds from 1637, with the former monastery church preserved as the castle church. Under Duke Johann Friedrich, a princely crypt and a Capuchin monastery were established from 1665, while Elector Ernst August dissolved the monastery again in 1680 and had 42 townhouses demolished to create a castle precinct. A wooden opera house was built in 1690. Between 1803 and 1813, the castle was plundered by French troops and used as a barracks. Under court architect Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves, the castle received its current Neoclassical appearance between 1816 and 1844.