Letzlingen Castle

The castle's origins date back to the mid-16th century, when a simple hunting lodge stood on this site. Between 1559 and 1562, Elector Johann Georg of Brandenburg commissioned master builder Lorenz Arndt to construct a castle-like hunting lodge, known as the "Hirschburg" (Stag Castle). This complex included a residential building surrounded by a curtain wall with corner towers and a moat. Johann Georg used the castle extensively for hunting and celebrated his third marriage there in 1577. Subsequent Hohenzollern rulers showed little interest in the property, which subsequently fell into disrepair. It was not until 1840 that King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia rediscovered the castle and, starting in 1843, commissioned architects Friedrich August Stüler and Ludwig Ferdinand Hesse to undertake renovations. They created a complex in the English Neo-Gothic style. The main building, the Corps de Logis, was rebuilt and extended upwards, and a round stair tower was added. The gatehouse and the corner towers of the curtain wall were also stylistically adapted and fitted with battlements. Between 1851 and 1853, renovations of the dining hall and kitchen followed.