Möckern Castle

The beginnings of the present castle lie in the 10th century, when a Slavic water castle stood in its place. The keep and the water-filled moats from the Middle Ages have been preserved as the oldest parts of the current complex.

The keep, built of fieldstones, has a square base of 11 x 11 m and extends over five floors with access at a height of nine meters. The tower received its baroque vaulted and polygonal cap, crowned by a lantern, during the castle's reconstruction between 1710 and 1715.

The reconstruction was initiated by Christian Wilhelm von Münchhausen, who became lord of the castle in 1710. He rebuilt the complex, which had been destroyed in the Thirty Years' War, and a half-timbered castle was created. A century and a half later, between 1840 and 1863, the owner Wilhelm Graf vom Hagen rebuilt the castle building in forms that are essentially still preserved today. A rectangular two-story main building with a 13-part window front was created southwest of the keep, connected to the tower by a projecting three-story structure. In place of the half-timbered building, a castle in the architectural style of English Gothic with pointed turrets, battlements, and window pediments had now emerged.

The Graf vom Hagen family owned the castle until their expropriation and expulsion by the communists in 1945. From 1952, the castle was rebuilt again to be used as a state archive depot. During this process, the Gothic decorative elements were removed and a windowed attic floor was added. In 1991, with financial participation from the state of Saxony-Anhalt, the castle was restored for a total of 3.2 million DM and furnished as a school building for a primary school.

East of the castle extends the castle park, designed as an English landscape park. It was laid out in the second half of the 18th century at the instigation of the lord of the castle, Baron Ludwig Philipp vom Hagen, with the participation of garden architect Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff. Its completion only took place under Count Christoph vom Hagen in 1810. Today, the old moat, remnants of the city wall, and ponds are integrated into the park. While the park is bordered to the south by the town church, the tea house, built in a simple classical style, stands near the castle. Furthermore, the park contains a square mausoleum built of boulders for Countess Erika vom Hagen, who died in 1907.