Burg Lauenbrück

Burg Lauenbrück stands in the village of Lauenbrück in Lower Saxony, near where the rivers Wümme and Fintau meet. It was built in the late Middle Ages as a ducal castle of Brunswick and Lüneburg to guard the border with the Bishopric of Verden. The site once controlled a key river crossing, linking important routes through the region. The castle first appears in records from 1358, when Duke Wilhelm II of Brunswick-Lüneburg bought land there to build his fortress. After the Thirty Years’ War it was rebuilt, but by 1732 the Bothmer family moved to a new Baroque palace in Mecklenburg. A lightning strike destroyed the manor house in 1775, and a replacement was built between 1858 and 1860 on the northern bank of the Wümme. Today only the circular moat remains, about 100 metres wide, with traces of the old drawbridge still visible beneath the water. Archaeologists have recovered oak piles from the riverbed that once supported the crossing. The quiet surroundings along the riverbanks invite a short walk to imagine how the castle once stood at this strategic spot.