To be privately owned
CastleSelent
Blomenburg Castle
The Blomenburg in Selent in the Plön district is a hunting lodge from the mid-19th century. The castle – more of a manor house by regional definition – was built for Count Otto von Blome, whose name it bears. The building is considered one of the main works of Historicism in Schleswig-Holstein. The complex is accessible to visitors from the outside.
The building site of the Blomenburg on the so-called Heidberg near Selent originally belonged to the lands of the Lammershagen estate, which Count Otto von Blome had acquired in 1829. The Blomenburg was built as a hunting residence near his Salzau estate from 1844 to 1848; it was a complete new construction, there was no predecessor building at this location. The hunting lodge was built in friendly rivalry as a counterpart to the observation tower called Hessenstein, which Landgrave Friedrich von Hessen had built a few years earlier on the other side of Lake Selent near Gut Panker. From 1878 until her death in 1908, Adeline Countess von Hardenberg, the only daughter of Otto Count Blome, lived as a widow at Blomenburg. Afterwards, Blomenburg served as an occasional residence for members of the Blome family until 1927, when it was sold under Johannes Blome to the Provincial Association of Schleswig-Holstein. In the following decades, the building served as a youth and educational home, and most of the non-fixed furnishings were lost during this time.
The youth home was closed in 1992 and Blomenburg was offered for sale; until 1993, it served to accommodate refugees from Yugoslavia, which was shaken by civil war. The building eventually went to an investor company, which had the so-called Blomenburg Technology Center established there from 1997. From 2004 to 2006, the historical facilities were renovated and the connected new building was erected, which together formed the "Blomenburg Venturepark". After controversies surrounding the use of the technology center, which had been renovated and promoted with public funds, by the operator, the latter filed for insolvency in 2009. In 2010, the Plön district took over the operation of the technology center. After the insolvency of the shareholder "Blomenburg Holding" in January 2011 and the decision of the Plön district not to finance the technology center in the future, Blomenburg Venture Park Trägergesellschaft mbH filed for insolvency on February 25, 2011.
Building Stock+
The Blomenburg
The Blomenburg is one of the main works of Historicism in Schleswig-Holstein. The complex, built by the Berlin architect Eduard Knoblauch, consists of the actual hunting lodge, which is enclosed by a multi-winged outbuilding in the manner of a bailey. Babelsberg Palace near Potsdam is cited as a model. The Blomenburg is a two-story building in the style of English Tudor. The building, over a cellar plinth, is almost cube-shaped, with several towers and extensions protruding from it. The building is constructed of brick and was originally intended to remain unplastered, but before the completion of the construction work, it first received a reddish, and later its current white, coat of paint. The house is sparingly decorated with cornice bands, and the flat roof is hidden behind a surrounding battlement.
The second upper floor, which in its height almost doubles the lower living floor, was intended as the main floor with the representative living rooms. The interior furnishings of the Blomenburg were considered exquisite, but the furniture was almost completely lost during the building's external use. Only the partly painted wall and ceiling panels have been preserved.
The Outbuildings and the Garden
The hunting lodge is surrounded by several outbuildings that together form a kind of bailey. The complex is entered through a gatehouse – another, outer gate with a drawbridge was later demolished again – which leads directly into the courtyard of the Blomenburg. The courtyard is formed in a horseshoe shape by the service wings and the two-story Cavalier's House, which, like the Blomenburg, adopt the Castle-Style of English Tudor Gothic. Below the complex, a modern, four-winged extension for the technology center was built from 2004 to 2006, connected to the Blomenburg by a glass bridge construction. The executing architect of the office building was Bernhard Winking, and the construction costs amounted to 10 million Euros. Simultaneously with the new construction of the administration building, various extensions from the time of the educational home, such as a kitchen wing, a washhouse, and a swimming pool, were demolished, and the previously green inner courtyard was newly paved.
The Blomenburg, located on the summit of a hill, is surrounded by a 67-hectare English-style landscape garden, which is accessed by circular paths and partly features exotic solitary trees.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image: http://schloesserrundschau.de/schleswig/schloesser/ploen25.html
This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.
Location: 54.2855, 10.4314