Hotel
CastleBoitzenburg
Boitzenburg Castle
Boitzenburg Castle is a historically and architecturally significant manor house in Boitzenburger Land in the Uckermark region, approximately 110 km north of Berlin. It is one of the largest castles in the region. For centuries, it was the ancestral seat of the von Arnim family. Some years after German reunification, it was extensively restored and now houses a children's and youth hotel.
A castle in Boitzenburg was first mentioned in 1276, but was probably established earlier (from 1250). Margrave Wilhelm of Meissen recaptured Boitzenburg Castle from the Mecklenburgers in 1398. After several changes of ownership, the manor first came into the possession of the von Arnim family in 1427, and permanently from 1528 (through an exchange for Zehdenick Castle). From the 16th century, a division into an upper house and a lower house is verifiable. During the Thirty Years' War, the castle was partially destroyed, then expanded as a Baroque castle in 1740. In the 19th century, the castle underwent two further major renovations: from 1838–1842 it was extended in the Neo-Gothic style by Friedrich August Stüler, and then from 1881–1884 it was brought closer to its original appearance in the Neo-Renaissance style by Karl Doflein.
The castle is located on an island, which was designed around 1840 by Peter Joseph Lenné as a magnificent English-style landscape park.
The outdoor shots for the German feature film Napoleon ist an allem schuld (1938) with Curt Goetz and Valérie von Martens were filmed here.
Recent Developments+
In 1945, the estate was expropriated and subsequently used as a recreation home for NVA officers and their families. After German reunification, the castle stood empty for several years. Finally, a Hamburg investor was found who bought the castle from the Treuhand for the symbolic price of one Mark and, from 1998–2003, converted it into a children's and youth hotel in hostel style for school classes and families with 350 beds, in line with his "Ponyhotel" concept.
The renovation of the castle was supported with large sums of public funds from the state of Brandenburg. State politicians hoped not only to save valuable historic building fabric from decay, but also to provide economic impulses for local craft businesses in the structurally weak region and a new attraction for tourism. After the renovation, however, accusations arose that the investor had not invested these funds to the necessary extent in the renovation, but had diverted parts of them for himself. The Investment Bank of the State of Brandenburg had provided 23 million euros in subsidies, which the investor was originally supposed to supplement with another 23 million from his own funds. In addition, another 10–12 million euros in subsidies flowed from the Eberswalde employment agency and the State Agency for Structure and Labor (LASA), totaling at least 33 million euros. However, when "Boitzenburg KG" had to file for insolvency in 2004, the insolvency administrator found that only 18.5 million euros had been invested in the renovation of the castle. The investor had therefore not only invested no equity, but had diverted subsidies totaling 14–17 million euros for other purposes. The insolvency administrator alerted the Investment Bank and the Brandenburg Ministry of Economics, which passed the case on to the Potsdam public prosecutor's office.
The case caused a great stir in the regional and national press in 2004/2005. The Brandenburg State Parliament also wanted to deal with the case. However, the operation of the castle hotel in hostel style has not been affected by these events.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0
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: 53.2604, 13.6023