Sandhorst Castle

The origins of the area where Sandhorst Castle stands date back to 1612, when it came into the possession of Chancellor Dothias Wiarda, who built a summer residence there. After Wiarda's death, Count Ulrich II of East Frisia acquired the land in 1647. In 1648, still during the Thirty Years' War, he had a pleasure palace built there for his wife Juliane of Hesse-Darmstadt. The estate comprised a main wing and two side wings, as well as a chapel with an organ by Jost Sieburg, and was surrounded by a landscaped park. It served the Cirksena family multiple times as a widow's and summer residence. In the 18th century, the castle gave its name to the von Sandhorst family, when Prince Christian Eberhard elevated his second wife, Anna Juliana von Kleinau, to 'Lady of Sandhorst,' and their children bore this name. After Christian Eberhard's death, it was Juliane's widow's residence. In 1734, Prince Georg Albrecht died in Sandhorst.