Vareler Schloss

Varel’s old Schloss once stood at the heart of the town in Lower Saxony. It began as a 12th-century fortified church, St Petrus, built by local chieftains who added a stone house beside it. In 1386 the chieftains swore loyalty to the Counts of Oldenburg, and in 1465 the last chieftain sold Varel to Count Gerd the Bold. By 1506 the stone house had grown into a small castle with a bakehouse and kitchen. Count Anton I enlarged it again in the 16th century, creating a grand hall that still held the original house inside. In 1659 the castle became a three-storey palace with two wings, a long west wing and a south wing that included a gateway. A separate stable block stood south of the palace. Today only traces remain beneath the modern street plan. Archaeologists found a cellar vault measuring ten by nine metres west of the church. The 16th-century hall measured twenty-eight by eight metres and the 17th-century palace enclosed it. The south wing once carried traffic through its archway, and the stable yard lay just beyond. The site tells how a chieftain’s stronghold turned into a noble residence before it vanished.