Residence Museum in the Celle Palace

The Residenzmuseum occupies the historic rooms of Celle’s castle, a Welf residence that served as a ruling seat from the 15th century until 1705. The castle then became a summer retreat for the kings of Hanover until 1905. Today the Bomann-Museum runs the displays, which trace the Welf dynasty, Europe’s oldest surviving princely house, from medieval times to the present. The museum’s core exhibition, ‘From Fortress to Residence’, uses outstanding finds to show court life under the Welfs. Visitors enter the last duke’s baroque apartments, where Italian craftsmen created the stucco ceilings. Paintings of the Welf family and early-baroque furniture fill the rooms, some pieces acquired in the 1980s to replace earlier historicist furnishings. A new upper-floor section presents the Huldigungspokale, silver-gilt ceremonial cups once used when towns swore loyalty to the duke. Guided tours also lead through the 19th-century castle kitchen, the court chapel and the baroque theatre. A children’s trail with themed stations helps younger visitors explore. The museum’s prize holdings include three giant Huldigungspokale bought at a Paris auction in 2009, plus a 1501/02 painting of the Nativity by Pedro Fernández de Murcia, now recognised as the oldest and finest work in Celle’s art collection.