Wiesenburg Castle

Wiesenburg Castle Park, with its rich stock of foreign woody plants, has been declared a landscape protection area. It was laid out around the middle of the 19th century. Until then, the area had served the count's owners mainly as a game reserve (pheasantry). Forester Gebbers was the actual creator of the park grounds. He gave it its current appearance through extensive plantings, especially of conifers from Western Europe, America, Japan, and China. The cultivation of the fast-growing Douglas fir in closed stands is particularly noteworthy. This conifer species, introduced from North America in the middle of the last century, was initially planted only as single stems, and in the rarest cases as groups, after some unsuccessful cultivation attempts in Schleswig-Holstein.

The fir is most numerous with hemlock, spear, giant, and Sitka fir. It is followed by spruce with dwarf, dwarf-tail, tiger-tail, and blue spruce. A variety of cypress and cedar species, various magnolias, and large areas of azaleas convey exotic impressions. In addition to golden and Turkey oaks, the rare Ginkgo biloba grows here. The rhododendrons have developed into a dendrological specialty. They cover large areas in the southern part of the park as undergrowth in oak and beech stands. At the edge of the tree population are giant trees over 400 years old and with a circumference of more than 5 meters. These old beeches and oaks are far surpassed in circumference and height by a black poplar and a Canadian poplar – both about 125 years old. They reveal the poplar as a fast-growing tree species.

A staircase, whose walls are overgrown with wisteria, leads over the main terrace of the castle to the altana. Beautiful figural groups and richly decorated vases by the Berlin sculptor Alexander Calandrelli (1834-1903) arouse the visitor's interest. These works are made of majolica (glazed clay with colored shards). The large silver lime tree in the eastern part of the main terrace shades an Italian pergola with three wall reliefs depicting spring, summer (grain harvest), and autumn (grape harvest). Stone mythical creatures form supports for the benches. Past the round corner tower, along the large balustrade of the main terrace, the path leads to the west side.

The castle was built on a hill that formerly sloped in steps into the park and ended in a wide, brick-lined castle moat. Since it turned out that the narrow slope did not provide enough support for the castle, especially its foundations, the moat was filled in 1864 for reinforcement, and masonry supported by strong buttresses was erected in front of the castle. The space between the masonry and the castle was filled with sand and earth. This created the current terrace. From there, one reaches a semicircular square. It is bordered by artificial groups of Nordic boulders and tufa stones, which come from the area of Bad Kösen. To the left of the semicircle are some grottoes made of fieldstones. Past the spacious flowerbeds, the path leads to the castle pond, where swans, Chinese knob-billed geese, and Turkish high-flying ducks attract the visitor's interest.