Schwerin Castle

A Slavic fortress stood on this island from the tenth century, and successive castles followed; the present building dates from a rebuilding between 1845 and 1857 for Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II, modelled loosely on Chambord in the Loire and covered in towers, turrets and a gilded dome. It stands on its own island in the Schweriner See connected by bridges, with a formal garden on one side and an orangery. The Mecklenburg state parliament sits in part of the building, and the rest is a museum with state rooms, a throne room and a picture gallery. UNESCO listed the castle and its surrounding ensemble in 2024.

Background

Gottfried Semper and Friedrich August Stüler, together with Georg Adolf Demmler and Ernst Friedrich Zwirner, shaped the historicist rebuilding between 1845 and 1857, and the result earned the nickname "Neuschwanstein of the North". Records of a structure on the island go back to AD 973. Earlier phases are documented: John Albert I, Duke of Mecklenburg, rebuilt the chapel from 1560 to 1563, and its Venetian Renaissance gate, with the carrying of the cross shown on its gable, is the work of the Dresden sculptor Hans Walther. Ghert Evert Piloot drew up plans for a rebuilding in the Dutch Renaissance manner, partly carried out between 1635 and 1643. The court left for Ludwigslust Palace in 1756 and returned in 1837.

Source: Wikipedia, "Schwerin Castle"

The main sights

• The island setting - a palace surrounded by lake water on all sides.
• The turreted silhouette - a Chambord-influenced rebuilding of the 1850s.
• The state rooms - throne room, gallery and ducal apartments.
• The gardens - a formal garden and orangery on the island and shore.

When to go

April to October; the museum closes Mondays outside summer. Parts close when parliament sits. The gardens are free and open year-round.

Things to know

Sections are in parliamentary use and closed. Almost everything visible is nineteenth-century rebuilding. Museum days vary by season.

Nearby

Wismar lies north; Ludwigslust is south.

Key facts