Schloss Sambleben

Schloss Sambleben is a 17th-century castle in the village of Sambleben in Lower Saxony. It stands on the site of a medieval water fortress built by the von Sambleben family, who died out in 1587. The present building was commissioned in 1701 by Theodul von Cramm and designed by the architect Hermann Korb, who had studied Renaissance styles in Florence. The castle is a two-storey square structure of Elbe limestone with four wings enclosing an inner courtyard. Three sides of the courtyard are lined with arcaded walkways resting on Tuscan columns. Above the main entrance a stone tablet reads ‘Anno 1701’, and the gable carries an inscription describing how Theodul’s grandfather bought the site in 1627 and how Theodul rebuilt the ruin in 1701. The design reflects Korb’s Italian travels and the florentine Renaissance he admired. Visitors enter through the central gate into the arcaded courtyard, where the stonework and proportions recall a Florentine palazzo. The surrounding village preserves the memory of the earlier water-filled moat and the medieval tower shown in a 17th-century Merian engraving. Beyond the castle walls the countryside of the Wolfenbüttel district stretches out, linking the estate to its historic landscape.