Schücking Castle

Haus Schücking was built in 1754 as the country seat of the prince-bishop's chancellor Christoph Bernhard Engelbert Schücking. The most prominent resident of the house was probably Levin Schücking. Together with Ferdinand Freiligrath and Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, he is one of the most important Westphalian poets of the 19th century. In collaboration with Freiligrath, Schücking became particularly known for the work "Das malerische und romantische Westfalen" (Picturesque and Romantic Westphalia), published in 1841. The publication marks the beginning of romantic and popular regional literature about Westphalia. In her time, Levin's mother Catharina Busch was also a well-known and popular poet. She maintained a close friendship with Annette von Droste-Hülshoff. This friendly connection was continued by her son after Catharina's death in 1831. In contrast to Droste, who deeply loved Haus Rüschhaus with its gardens amidst the Münsterland park landscape, Levin Schücking did not feel particularly comfortable in the secluded country town of Sassenberg. In 1852, he bought the baroque estate from his relatives, but preferred to stay in Münster and used the domicile in Sassenberg primarily as a summer and holiday residence. To enhance the property to be representative according to his ideas, he had Haus Schücking converted into a romantic country manor.

Building and Furnishings

The simple, single-story brick building was constructed in 1754 as the country seat of the prince-bishop's chancellor Christoph Bernhard Engelbert Schücking by the important Westphalian Baroque master builder Johann Conrad Schlaun. At the time of the building's construction, the garden side had a far more significant function than the street-facing courtyard facade. Towards the garden, the central part of the facade was designed as a dwarf-house risalit with a mezzanine floor, thus forming a design reference point for the representative design of the garden.

In the mid-19th century, the renowned Westphalian writer and publicist Levin Schücking resided on the estate. He had the entrance area altered with an artfully decorated central gable in the area of the high hip roof. Just one year before his death, in 1882, he had the lateral south extension built, which stands out with its tower-like pyramid roof. The outbuildings date from the late 18th century and are now used as the headquarters of the environmental initiative "urgewald," which draws particular attention to itself through a campaign for the protection of the rainforest.