Location: Glücksburg, Schleswig-Holstein Map
Constructed: 1582- 87
Tel. +49 4631 22 13
Open: May- Sept 10am- 6pm daily
October: 10am- 6pm Tue- Sun
Nov- Apr 10am- 5pm Sat- Sun
Glücksburg Castle is one of the most important Renaissance castles
in Northern Europe. It served as the ancestral seat of the ducal
line of the House of Glücksburg and was the temporary residence of
the Danish royal family. The building, a moated castle, is located
in Glücksburg on the Flensburg Fjord. The family members of the
House of Glücksburg, named after the castle, are related to almost
all European dynasties.
The castle is one of the most famous
sights in Schleswig-Holstein. It houses a museum and is open to
visitors.
The prehistory of today's castle grounds began in Schleswig in 1192, when the double monastery of St. Michael auf dem Berge was dissolved there. The nuns then moved to the St. John's Monastery in Schleswig, which still exists today, while the monks left the place and went to Guldholm on Langsee. Between 1209 and 1210 they founded a new Cistercian monastery in today's Glücksburg. In the vicinity of the monastery there was probably an older tower hill castle that has been preserved to this day as a swan island. The so-called Rüdekloster and the extensive estates were inhabited and managed by the monks in the following centuries. At that time there were still several castles in neighboring Flensburg (cf. Flensburg city fortifications) and from 1411 the large, militarily important Duburg. In the course of the Reformation, the Rüdekloster was secularized in 1538 and came into the possession of the Danish King Christian III in 1544. The monastery buildings served as the administrator's residence. The Duburg in Flensburg was also in decline at the beginning of the 16th century.
The actual history of the castle began in
1582. The Danish King Frederick II enfeoffed his brother John, known
as Hans the Younger, with the lands of Sundewitt, the Reinfeld
monastery and the old Rüdekloster, among other things. Johann, who
already had considerable possessions, acquired additional areas. The
government of the duchy was largely in the hands of his brother.
Although Johann was a divided lord, because the estates refused him
homage, he tried to increase his fortune and his reputation in other
ways. He worked successfully as an early mercantilist entrepreneur.
As a typical duke of his time, he expressed his wealth with various
buildings and founded, among other things, the castles in Reinfeld
and Ahrensbök, which have since been demolished. He modernized the
Sønderborg Castle and from 1582 built Glücksburg instead of the Rüde
monastery as a comfortable country castle for himself and his
family.
After Johann's death in 1622, the duchy of
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg was divided among his heirs. Johann's
son Philipp received the castle and the lands of Glücksburg and thus
founded the first, the older line of the House of
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. The castle remained the
seat of the Dukes of Glücksburg for over 150 years, but the small
titular duchy itself remained relatively insignificant. Apart from
the fact that the members of the house were repeatedly married into
other noble families, they played no role in the history of the
country. During this time, the Glücksburg was more of a continuously
inhabited noble family seat and less of a courtly residence. In the
middle of the 17th century, the palace and its outbuildings housed a
court of an average of 80 people.
As successors to Johann (†
1622) resided here:
Philip
(Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), † 1663
Christian
(Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), † 1698
Philipp Ernst
(Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), † 1729
Frederick D.
Ä. (Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), † 1766
Friedrich
Heinrich Wilhelm (Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), † 1779
With the death of the childless Friedrich Heinrich Wilhelm in
1779, the older branch of the family died out and the Glücksburg
fief went back to the Danish royal family. Until 1824 the castle was
used as a widow's residence by the wife of the last Duke, Anna
Carolina.
The
Danish King Friedrich VI. handed over the fief and thus the castle and
title to his brother-in-law Friedrich Wilhelm from the Holstein-Beck
family in 1825. Friedrich Wilhelm assisted the Danish king during the
Congress of Vienna and was accordingly rewarded with the title. Raised
in Denmark and Prussia, the new duke was a direct descendant of the
builder of the palace, John III. Together with his wife, Luise Karoline,
a daughter of the ducal governor Karl von Hessen-Kassel, he founded the
younger line of the House of Glücksburg. Friedrich Wilhelm no longer
lived in the castle himself; however, his wife resided here until the
Schleswig-Holstein uprising. Among their ten children was the later
Danish king Christian IX. – the progenitor of today's Glücksburg line on
the Danish throne.
The Danish royal family often used the
relatives' castle as a summer residence. From 1854, King Friedrich VII
occasionally resided at Glücksburg until he died childless here in 1863.
According to the London Protocol of 1852, Christian IX. his successor
from the Glücksburg line. Under him, the castle gained a reputation as
the cradle of Europe, and the new king was often referred to as Europe's
father-in-law. From Christian's marriage to Princess Louise of Hesse,
three daughters were married into the royal houses of England and
Russia: Alexandra married the later Edward VII, Dagmar the later Tsar
Alexander III. and the youngest daughter Thyra the Duke of Cumberland.
The second son became King of Greece as George I and the grandson Carl
became King of Norway. The House of Glücksburg is related to almost all
major European dynasties from this time to the present day.
During the Second Schleswig War in 1864, the castle
served as quarters for Carl von Prussia and was later even used as a
military hospital and barracks. The long personal union between the
Danish royal family and Schleswig-Holstein duchies ended with the war,
and the palace passed into Prussian ownership. On September 16, 1868,
the Prussian King Wilhelm I visited the castle during a visit to
Flensburg to decide on its future whereabouts and use.
The
Flensburger Nachrichten reported on September 22: “Even [...] [the]
place [Glücksburg] was festively decorated for the arrival of the king;
There were three gates of honour, one near Ruhethal, the second in front
of the entrance to the village, and the third at the entrance to the
castle, and there were also plenty of flags and floral decorations. The
king arrived at 4:30 p.m., and Pastor Vogel made a short speech at the
second gate of honor, which the monarch graciously replied. A few
peasant girls had gathered at the castle to offer the sovereign butter,
bread, cheese and fruit as products of fishing. [...] The whole stay in
the village and in the castle lasted only a little hour.”.
King
Wilhelm I showed no further personal interest in the property and the
War Ministry no longer needed it either. King Wilhelm I transferred the
castle back to the ducal family in 1869 with a "highest decree".
Duke Karl, a brother of King
Christian IX, has been using the castle as a permanent residence since
1871. When he moved in, he and his wife Wilhelmine were greeted by the
Friedrichsgarde. Since then, the castle has remained in the possession
of the Glücksburg family and was occupied almost continuously by family
and relatives.
As successors of Duke Karl († 1878) still lived
here:
Friedrich (Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), † 1885
Friedrich Ferdinand (Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), † 1934
Among the most prominent regular guests was Auguste Viktoria, the
last German Empress, who came from the closely related House of
Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. She often stayed in
Glücksburg, her sister Caroline Mathilde was married to Friedrich
Ferdinand and Auguste Viktoria often visited her here. A series of rooms
on the first floor are named after the Empress. Wilhelm II was also a
frequent guest, but usually did not live in the castle, but spent the
night on his yacht during his stays. From 1907 to 1910 he had the Navy
School Mürwik, the so-called Red Castle, built for the Imperial Navy in
neighboring Mürwik, based on the model of the Ordensburg Marienburg.
Glücksburg Castle remained the main residence of the ducal family
until the 20th century, which only gradually moved to the mansions of
the surrounding estates, such as Louisenlund or Grünholz.
The buildings of the Glücksburg survived the world wars without
major damage. Only the castle bells were confiscated and melted down
during the First World War.
At the end of the Second World
War, the nearby special area of Mürwik became the seat of government
under Dönitz. In neighboring Glücksburg, Reich Minister Albert Speer
took up quarters in the castle, where he was arrested by the Allies
on May 23, 1945 and initially taken to Flensburg. The castle served
as a prison for 200 former members of the Wehrmacht until the summer
of 1945. The castle was plundered by British troops in May 1945.
They stole numerous valuables, some of which were later returned. In
addition, 32 coffins were opened in the crypt. The family of
Friedrich Ferdinand zu Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg was
held at gunpoint by British soldiers in the castle during the
looting. Some of the stolen goods were returned following an
explicit appeal by the British Queen in favor of her uncle.
The palace and museum were reopened at Pentecost 1948.
In 1922, the family brought the castle
into a foundation, the purpose of which was not only to preserve
Glücksburg, but also to allow the public to participate in the
cultural monument. As part of this, a large part of the castle was
converted into a museum, and since then concerts and other cultural
events have been held in the castle and in the orangery. For
example, Glücksburg is one of the venues for the Schleswig-Holstein
Music Festival.
In the non-profit foundation statutes, the
task of the foundation is formulated as follows:
The purpose
of the foundation is to promote art and culture as well as monument
protection. The purpose of the foundation is realized in particular
through the endeavor to preserve Glücksburg Castle and the inventory
belonging to the foundation assets in accordance with their high
cultural and historical status, to use them and make them accessible
to the public. ...
The board of directors of the foundation
is provided by the ducal family itself. The current managing
director has been Christoph zu Schleswig-Holstein since 1980. In
addition to the family, the board of trustees also includes
representatives of the state of Schleswig-Holstein and the district
administrator of the Schleswig-Flensburg district. The family still
has the domiciliary rights. The foundation is responsible for the
care and protection of the castle, which - like many moated castles
- has to struggle with constant moisture. As the last major measure
- after a legal dispute with the state regarding the assumption of
costs - the facades of Glücksburg were extensively renovated from
2005. Half of the financial resources of around 440,000 euros were
provided by the EU and the other half by the State Office for the
Preservation of Monuments, the German Foundation for Monument
Protection, the Friends of Schloss Glücksburg e. V. and various
smaller foundations.
On December 21, 1582, a contract was signed with
Nikolaus Karies for the construction of the castle. Caries was
supposed to be the master builder for Johann III. carry out the
demolition of the monastery and oversee the work on the new
building. The duke provided him with 6,000 Lübeck marks for the
construction work – which at the time was the equivalent of around
1,200 cattle.
Glücksburg was built in the immediate vicinity
of the former monastery until 1587, part of which was removed to be
reused as building material for the new castle. The former monastery
grounds were flooded and dammed to form a large castle pond.
A typical mansion in Schleswig-Holstein
Occasionally, French
models are cited for the château - the floor plan of the château,
for example, is similar to the central building of Chambord - but it
is a typical building of its era and region. It is a so-called
multiple house, here in the triple variation, a characteristic
building form of Schleswig-Holstein from the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance. "Sister buildings" can be found, for example, in the
Nütschau manor house and above all in Ahrensburg Castle, which was
built almost at the same time. Glücksburg is the largest and
probably the best-known of the surviving multiple houses in
Schleswig and Holstein. The motto of the builder Johann III., God
give happiness with peace, is expressed by the letters G G G M F
above the portal. This is where the name of the castle comes from.