Fake: The Knight's Castle in Hanover's Nordstadt

© Matthias Kothe

Nothing is as it seems

It was not a knight, but the Hanoverian banker Alexander Moritz Simon, who around 1860 had a private city park laid out at the corner of Herrenhäuser Kirchweg and An der Strangriede and had a meticulously detailed knight’s castle built within it. The park no longer exists today. The knight’s castle, built in the romantic Neo-Gothic style—which was never actually a castle but only looked like one—fell into ruin over time. Hannover’s only “castle” (the six medieval castles that once stood within the current city limits of Lower Saxony’s capital no longer exist) stood neglected until it was finally rebuilt stone by stone—including the tower and fortress walls—and beautifully restored. Starting in 1971, the charming castle was home to the restaurateur couple Renate and Heinrich Stern, who were awarded the coveted Michelin star in 1984 for their gourmet restaurant “Georgenhof.” In 2004, Hanover’s charismatic Michelin-starred chef Heinrich Stern retired at the age of 65; after that, the photogenic structure stood empty for several years and was eventually completely renovated and converted into a residence on behalf of a university professor.

A banker with vision

"Alexander Moritz Simon was born in Hanover in 1837. He trained in banking, worked for a time in the United States, which later appointed him its vice-consul in Hanover. He amassed a considerable fortune. For example, he owned the magnificent, angular parking garage at the corner of Nienburger Straße and Appelstraße, and not far from there, the castle ruins still standing at the corner of Herrenhäuser Kirchweg and An der Strangriede—where, of course, no knights ever lived. Simon had the ruin built as a ruin in his park, which was enormous at the time, including an Old German-style drinking hall within it, where he entertained noble and wealthy guests“, writes the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung in an online article dated August 5, 2019, while also recalling another passion of the Jewish banker: “Alexander Moritz Simon's greatest legacy, however, is the founding of the Israelite Horticultural School in Ahlem. Simon, who lived extremely frugally in his later years, invested all his money in this project. The school later became a Gestapo prison and is now a memorial to the Nazi persecution of the Jews.“

Simons of Hannover

Incidentally, his namesakes Katerina and Marc Simon are just as imaginative and visionary today as the banker and lord of the castle Alexander Moritz Simon was 160 years ago. In collaboration with Roland Schulze from the Lister Distillery on Mengendamm, they produce kosher spirits such as gin and fruit brandies in Hanover under the brand name “Simons of Hanover,” which comply with the strict rules governing the preparation and consumption of food and drink by observant Jews—inspected and approved by Rabbi Benjamin Wolff of the Chabad Lubavitch Jewish community in Hanover. Manuel Mauritz from Hanover’s “Lieblingsbar” in Herrenhausen describes the taste of the Simons’ kosher premium gin: “Spicy, subtly tart, classic, juniper-forward, yet not overly floral.”