Güstrow Palace

The Güstrow Castle is located south of Rostock in Mecklenburg- Vorpommern in the city Güstrow. It is considered one of the most important Renaissance buildings in northern Germany.

History

In place of the present castle was already a Slavic castle. In 1307, the first time a stronghold of the Prince of Werle was mentioned. With the extinction of the Prince of Werle, the castle came in 1436 in the possession of the dukes of Mecklenburg and was their second home. At a regional center of the Renaissance culture of the place but it was only after divisions of the duchy in 1547 and 1552, the two brothers Duke Johann Albrecht I and Duke Ulrich had made the establishment of a second princely court necessary. In Güstrow reigned Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg, while the line of his brother in Schwerin expanded its residence. Duke Johann Albrecht had introduced there, and with the Duke's palace ( 1553) in Wismar since the early 1550s, the forms of the Italian Renaissance in the region.

In 1557 the southern wing of the Guestrower castle burned down and so offered the opportunity Ulrich Herzog, gorgeous continued growth of the old castle to the rank of its owner. For the construction of the Italian -born architect Guestrower Franz Parr was (d. 1580) from Silesia committed, who had worked there on the run by his family expansion of the Renaissance castle in Brieg / Brzeg. From 1558 the entrance wing on the west side and the western half of the garden facing south wing was built, and by 1565 the building shell was completed. At the time, Francis Parr was from the construction management and entered the service of the Swedish king; but his brother, the sculptor and Stuckator Christopher Parr still worked until 1570 in Güstrow before he even stepped into Swedish service. The oldest picture of the castle from 1585 can be found on the Vicke - Schorler role in the Archives of the Hanseatic city of Rostock.

A fire destroyed again in 1586 and the north wing of the old castle. From 1587 to 1591 the northern wing of the palace was built according to the designs of the Dutchman Philipp Brandin. In 1594 we expanded the building to the east wing, from designs by Claus Midow. From 1628 to 1630 the Güstrow castle was the residence of Wallenstein. With the construction of the gatehouse and Castle Bridge by Charles Philip Dieussart the palace was completed in 1671.

The castle was designed as a programmatic synthesis of older native locks ( irregular appearance, Tower wealth, see eg Meissen, Torgau, Heidelberg) and motifs of Italian and French Renaissance architecture. It is an elaborately plastered brick building which houses on the facades and inside numerous form elements from antiquity ( order of columns, rustication ) and they certainly recombined. The patterns used of the exterior be resumed in the interior of the Deckenstuckaturen and in the patterns of the floors. Particularly noteworthy are the stuccoed frieze Hirsch ( 1570s, Christopher Parr ) and the Deckenstuckaturen of 1620 of the plasterer Daniel Anckermann in the ballroom of the castle. Both are partially decorated with applied figures.

With the extinction of the 1621 resulting line of the Dukes of Mecklenburg- Güstrow in 1695 Güstrow came to the Dukes of Mecklenburg -Schwerin, whose secondary residence and place of residence of the courtesans of the court was. The castle, however, was hardly used and began to decay. 1795 had to be canceled due to dilapidation of the east wing eventually. From 1800 the use was as a military hospital and in 1817 as the country workhouse, here no persons supplied were housed after the abolition of serfdom. Later the castle was converted into a nursing home. As part of these uses the old, opulent, has been widely altered or even destroyed.

From 1963 to 1978 was carried out by the GDR a comprehensive restoration of the castle. Since 1972, the Güstrow castle is used as a museum for North German art of the Middle Ages, hunting and ceremonial weapons and contemporary art. It is now one of the locations of the State Museum Schwerin. The garden in the style of a Renaissance garden was also restored and is one of the rare examples of such gardens in Germany.

Gallery

Güstrow Castle - entrance

Güstrow Castle - View over the courtyard

Güstrow Castle - staircase tower in the courtyard

Inscription over renovation in 1604

Coat of arms reign in Tordurchlass

Ceiling finishes Tordurchlass

Inscription on the northern wing after fire 1586