Liebenberg Castle

The origins of Liebenberg date back to the 16th century, when the noble family von Bredow developed it into a knight's estate. From 1652, the Cleves family von und zu Hertefeld shaped the estate. The current castle emerged from a manor house built no later than 1743, which was expanded in a historicizing style between 1875 and 1906. The original Baroque garden was transformed into an extensive landscape park in the 19th century, based on designs by Peter Joseph Lenné. In 1908, the Seehaus (lake house) was added. A figure was Jobst Gerhard von und zu Hertefeld, whose agricultural merits in the 17th century were recognized by Theodor Fontane as “epoch-making for the cultural history of the Mark.” Later, Philipp Fürst zu Eulenburg und Hertefeld, a diplomat and close confidant of Emperor Wilhelm II, became the most famous lord of the castle. After World War II, the estate was expropriated and handed over by the Soviet Military Administration to the SED.