Schloss Peseckendorf

Schloss Peseckendorf stands in the village of Peseckendorf, part of Oschersleben in Sachsen-Anhalt. The first records of the village date from 1086, and the Asseburg family took over the estate in 1463. In 1617 Busso von der Asseburg turned the site into a Renaissance castle with walls and moats. Four hills from that period still mark the park today. The old castle was demolished at the end of the 19th century.

Between 1905 and 1912 Friedrich Schaeper built a new manor in Neobarock style. The architect Paul Schultze-Naumburg designed the park to resemble Sanssouci in Potsdam. A stone portal on the courtyard side carried four Kolbe sculptures called ‘Four Seasons’. After 1945 the figures were removed to Burg Ummendorf museum. In 1945 the Schaeper family was dispossessed and the building used first by the FDGB and later as a special school home until 1991.

Today the complex includes a landscaped park with ponds and a 25-metre tower once used as both lookout and water tower. Most farm buildings have collapsed since 1991 and had to be pulled down. The manor itself now serves as a youth education centre run by the Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband. The entire estate has been for sale for several years without finding a buyer.