Steuerwald Castle

Burg Steuerwald stands beside the river Innerste, three kilometres north of Hildesheim’s cathedral. Built between 1310 and 1313 as a Romanesque castle, it replaced the bishop’s former residence inside the rebellious city. The castle keep, rising 26 metres, has walls two metres thick and once served as a prison. Bishop Otto II enlarged the castle in the 1320s, adding the tall keep and expanding the ramparts. During the Thirty Years’ War the castle was besieged and captured in 1632 but suffered little damage. After 1803 the church lost control, the moat was partly filled, and a brewery operated in the deep cellars. The castle’s architecture reflects centuries of change. The Romanesque palas, built of sandstone in the early 14th century, still stands 23 metres high with four floors and Gothic windows. St. Magdalena’s Chapel, begun in 1310 and remodelled in 1507, has a pointed arch and a sandstone relief of Bishop John IV’s coat of arms. A large half-timbered storehouse from the late 18th century is preserved outside the walls. The inner courtyard, 175 by 175 metres, holds a medieval barn and the tenant’s house built in 1819 with an outdoor staircase. Visitors find the castle keep and palas well preserved, their thick walls and lancet windows still visible. The chapel seats fifty-five and hosts concerts and weddings. The rampart and moat remain on the west side, along with firing slits in the old wall. Behind the castle a racecourse laid out in the 1970s is used by a riding club. The roofs of the palas and barn were repaired in 2010, and the chapel was restored in 1990. Plans exist to turn the site into a cultural centre for exhibitions and performances.