- Type
- Palace / château
- Built
- 1845 · 19th century
- Location
- Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany
- Style
- historicist architecture
- Architect
- Friedrich August Stüler, Gottfried Semper
- Heritage
- UNESCO World Heritage List
- Visiting
- probably – Wikidata lists it as a museum or gives tickets, opening hours or visitor numbers; check before you go
- Coordinates
- 53.6242°, 11.4189°
History
The island was once the site of a stronghold of the Slavic Obotrites, which passed to the Saxon duke Henry the Lion in 1160. For centuries afterwards it was the main seat of the rulers of Mecklenburg, and the castle was rebuilt many times. Its present look comes from a reconstruction of 1845–1857 commissioned by Grand Duke Frederick Francis II; the architects included Georg Adolph Demmler and Friedrich August Stüler, and the models were French Renaissance châteaux, Chambord above all. In 1913 a fire destroyed part of the interiors. Since 1990 the castle has been the seat of the parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and in 2024 the Schwerin residence ensemble was inscribed on the UNESCO list.
What to see
The museum section displays the grand dukes' state apartments, a richly gilded throne room and an ancestral portrait gallery. Around the castle lie the Baroque Palace Garden with its cross-shaped canal and a garden on the former bastions with a grotto and an orangery. The golden domes and turrets reflected in the water are best seen from the bridges and the lakeshore.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q573656
Popularity: articles about this site in 43 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).