To be privately owned
CastleTravenbrück-Tralau
Tralau Castle
Tralau Castle is located in the municipality of Travenbrück in southern Schleswig-Holstein. As the main building of the former noble estate of Tralau, it is actually a manor house, but due to its picturesque appearance, it has been referred to as a castle for quite some time. The 19th-century building is privately owned.
The first documented mention of the area, which was already settled in early times, dates back to 1197. Tralau – the name is of Wendish origin – was located in the Middle Ages in the border region between Saxon and Wendish territory and served to secure the border with a rampart castle. A knightly family enfeoffed by the Schauenburgers and named after the seat remained there with various lines until the beginning of the 15th century. In 1444, the long-established Brockdorff family took over the property, which was subsequently developed from a manorial estate into a large farm. The Brockdorffs remained at Tralau for about two centuries, then in 1647, a branch of the ancient noble Rantzau family followed them, selling the estate again in 1702. The 18th and 19th centuries were marked by numerous changes of ownership and the shift from serfdom to leasehold. Among the more significant owners during that time were the Dukes of Plön from 1754 to 1781 and the Buchwaldt family from 1824 to 1855. In 1890, Tralau came into the possession of the Jenisch family, who had the present manor house built; further changes of ownership followed in the 20th century. In 1932, the estate passed to the painter Otto Graf Kerssenbrock, in whose family it remained for the next decades.
During and after the Second World War, Tralau served to accommodate bomb victims and refugees from the German eastern territories. The estate was subsequently increasingly reduced in size through parcelling and sale of the lands; the manor house later served as a retirement home for several years. Tralau remains in private ownership to this day and is inhabited; the manor house is not accessible and can only be viewed from public paths.
Buildings+
The Manor House
The present Tralau Castle is the successor building to a medieval moated castle and a two-story manor house built at the beginning of the 19th century, which had to be demolished in 1893 after a fire. The new construction of the manor house took place in the stylistic diversity of late Historicism and combines forms of Gothic, Nordic Renaissance, and Art Nouveau. The house, in its dimensions more a typical Gründerzeit villa, was given a castle-like appearance and was deliberately integrated into the gently rolling landscape. The manor house has two full floors and a tall tower, which serves as an observation tower allowing views over the park-like surroundings. The fixed interior furnishings with paneling and ceiling paintings follow the Neo-Renaissance style.
The picturesque castle, consisting of various building elements and designed with high ornamental gables, was extended by three window axes to the east at the beginning of the 20th century and received a second tower on the garden side; extensions that have recently been removed, so that Tralau today appears again in its original state.
The Estate Complex and the Garden
Around the castle, the remains of the former farmyard with its outbuildings are still preserved today, although the estate farming at Tralau no longer plays a significant role. At the end of the courtyard is a former inspector's house, which was converted into a residence under Count Kerssenbrock and is occasionally referred to as the New Manor House.
The garden was designed in the style of English landscape gardens. With its water features and tree groups, it forms the stylistically appropriate setting for the diverse manor house, creating an ensemble in the spirit of Romanticism. Like the castle, the garden is privately owned and not publicly accessible.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Schloss_Tralau.JPG
This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.
Location: 53.8366, 10.3045