Alt-Madlitz Castle

Alt Madlitz Castle is a manor house of the Counts Finck von Finckenstein. It is located in the Alt Madlitz district of Madlitz-Wilmersdorf in the Oder-Spree district.

The estate was first mentioned in 1373 as Modelicz. For 200 years, from 1551 to 1751, it belonged to the von Wulffen family. Kaspar von Wulffen had a simple residential building made of fieldstones erected here in 1551, which was extended before 1750. The Counts Finck von Finckenstein, a family of the Prussian Uradel (ancient nobility) of great importance to the kingdom, acquired it by purchase in 1751, thus leaving East Prussia (Gilgenburg) for the first time. Years earlier, Field Marshal Albrecht Konrad Finck von Finckenstein (1660–1735) had been elevated to the rank of Imperial Count by Emperor Leopold I for his services in the War of the Spanish Succession.

Alongside Finckenstein Castle, Alt Madlitz Castle soon became a main seat of the house. The simple manor house was expanded into a three-story country castle in the 18th century by Friedrich Ludwig Karl Finck von Finckenstein. The outbuildings erected at that time now serve their original purpose again. The first English landscape park in Brandenburg was also created here at this time.

In 1945, the estate was expropriated as part of the land reform, and the Counts Finck von Finckenstein were expelled from Brandenburg. The castle building was used by the GDR as a kindergarten. However, due to a lack of necessary maintenance, the masonry began to crumble, and the ground floor was no longer habitable from the 1970s onwards. Nevertheless, some architectural highlights, such as the stucco work and the historic staircase, were preserved inside.

Since German reunification, Alt Madlitz Castle has been back in the possession of the Finck von Finckenstein family. Karl Wilhelm Graf Finck von Finckenstein (born 1923 in Alt Madlitz) had it extensively restored, the park reconstructed by garden architect Clemens Alexander Wimmer, and resumed the estate operations (farm shop, hunting, and agriculture).

A café is located in the inspector's house on the edge of the landscape park.

Karl Wilhelm Graf Finck von Finckenstein passed away on July 5, 2010, in Hamburg. The burial took place on July 19, 2010, in the family cemetery in Alt Madlitz.