Ulrichshusen Castle

Ulrichshusen Castle is a manor house in Ulrichshusen, a village belonging to Moltzow in the Mecklenburg Lake District. With its three-story main building and typical stepped gables, it is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Mecklenburg. The building is located on the southern shore of Lake Ulrichshusen on a hill. Today it is used as a hotel. Outbuildings of the complex serve for various public events.

Since 1994, the castle has been one of the main venues for the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, which takes place annually throughout the state during the summer season.

After acquiring and exchanging several estates between Waren and Teterow by the Grubenhagen branch of the Maltzan family, Ulrich Moltzan († 1572), who had also acquired the arable and forest areas of the deserted village of Domherrenhagen, united some of these lands into a knight's estate and had a moated castle built in 1562, probably a rather small building in the style of a fortified house. In 1624 it burned down at least partially, and Bernd-Ludolph Maltzan (Wallenstein's quartermaster) rebuilt it within two years, enlarging the complex. In 1649 it was sold on pledge for 30 years to the Swedish General Carl Didriksson Ruth (also Rutt). From him it passed to his son-in-law J. Ehrenreich von Arnim, from whom it was pledged to Baron Erlenkamp of Vielist. Only in 1742 did it return to the Maltzahns line residing in Rothenmoor and in 1815 to the Counts of Maltzan of Militsch. In 1842 it was sold to the Hahn-Basedow line. At the beginning of the 20th century, Ulrichshusen was the residence of the German tennis champion, Count Viktor Eugen Voß, who at that time received the nickname "der Ulrichshusener". The Count built an asphalt tennis court at the foot of the castle, the outlines of which can still be recognized today by the shorter grass growth there. The estate came to the Counts of Bassewitz-Schlitz in 1929. From 1930, a poor structural condition with cracks in the masonry was reported. In 1945 the owners were expropriated and expelled by the communists.

After 1945, the castle served as refugee accommodation. Due to its historical significance, as the only one from the Müritz district besides Ludorf Manor, it was placed under protection by the Soviet military administration as early as 1946. Later, the castle housed a "Konsum" (cooperative store). In 1976, the castle was last inhabited and subsequently left to decay, only to be provisionally secured in 1983. In 1987, the main house burned down to its foundations.

After German reunification, the von Maltzan family bought back the ruin. From 1993, the entire complex was restored by Helmuth Freiherr von Maltzahn (* 1949) and his wife Alla in cooperation with the State Office for Monument Preservation Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the German Foundation for Monument Protection and the German Federal Foundation for the Environment. Since 1994, concert performances as part of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival have taken place in the castle complex. Yehudi Menuhin, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Igor Oistrach, among others, have performed in the fieldstone barn. The gatehouse and the connecting building serve as residential buildings. Hotel operations began in the main house and outbuildings in 2001. Today there are 19 guest rooms. The former stable houses a restaurant, and Ulrichshusen has become a popular wedding venue. As new projects, Helmuth von Maltzahn is now dedicated to saving the baroque manor houses of Gützkow and Gnemern.