Celle Castle

Celle Castle stands in the town of Celle in Lower Saxony. It is the largest castle in the southern Lüneburg Heath region. The building began as a fortified wall tower guarding a ford over the River Aller around 980. Otto the Strict founded another forerunner in 1292. The castle theatre’s ruins lie beneath the present theatre. The castle became a residence of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1378. Frederick the Pious expanded it from 1471 to 1478. Ernest I the Confessor decorated the castle in Renaissance style between 1530 and 1560. Duke George William transformed it into a contemporary residence from 1670, copying Venetian façades and adding the corona of gables. Today visitors find the court chapel with its Renaissance architecture. The Baroque state rooms from George William’s time remain intact. The Gothic Hall hosts changing exhibitions, and the East Wing holds part of Celle’s Bomann Museum. The castle theatre, one of the oldest preserved in North Germany, still has its own company. Outside, the castle park covers about seven hectares, surrounded by moats. The French Garden nearby still shows traces of its Baroque layout.