Heiligenstedten Castle

The lands around the castle belonged to the von Krummendiek family in the late Middle Ages. In the 16th century, the property passed to the Rantzaus, who already resided in the not-far-distant Breitenburg, and shortly thereafter to the Ahlefeldt family, who, like the Rantzaus, belonged to the Equites Originarii of the country. In 1583, Balthasar von Ahlefeldt commissioned the master builder Franz von Roncha to erect a first manor house in the Renaissance style. In 1691, the estate passed to the Blome family, in whose possession it remained until 1926.

In 1717, a new manor house was built, which was severely damaged by a storm surge in 1756. From 1769, at the instigation of Otto Blome I, another new building was erected in the forms of the Late Baroque. This building still forms the core of the house today, which was reshaped in an almost Neo-Gothic style between 1851 and 1853. The old floor plan was largely retained, and the changes were mainly carried out on the facades.

The castle, which is located on a rectangular island on a loop of the Stör river, once included an English-style landscape park. However, after a dike expansion, a large part of this has now merged into the surrounding landscape. Another area of the park was sacrificed for a large riding hall. Various outbuildings, which once served as a farm building and orangery, are situated in front of the main facade with the rest of the garden.

In 1926, the Blome family sold the property to the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The furniture and library of the castle were auctioned off, some of which went to Husum Castle. Until 1939, the house served as a home for difficult-to-educate young people. At the beginning of the Second World War, it was temporarily converted into a military hospital, but during the war, it again served as a reformatory. After the end of the war, like many other country castles in Schleswig-Holstein, it took in refugees from the German Eastern Territories. From 1958, it then served as a retirement home and retained this function until the home was dissolved in 1987.

After the 1962 storm surge, almost all the sluices in the Heiligenstedten Stör dike were shut down and filled; the sluice for the castle moat, however, was replaced by a cast-iron sluice with a slide.

In 1988, the castle was occupied. The association that emerged from this was temporarily allowed to use part of the premises. A private investor became aware of the property through the press, to whom the state of Schleswig-Holstein, through the then Minister of Finance, Heide Simonis, sold the castle for a symbolic price of DM 10,000.

The castle was soon after sold to another investor, and an extensive gastronomic concept was developed. The manor house was completely renovated by 1994 and transformed into a castle hotel. Various restaurants were set up in the outbuildings, and a training center for sport horses was intended to serve as another attraction. However, the project failed due to, among other things, disagreements between the operators and the municipality of Heiligenstedten, but also because the expected visitor numbers did not materialize. Currently, a new buyer is being sought for the over-indebted property. The castle is legally privately owned and is therefore not accessible to visitors.