The Calenberg Festivals

Calenberg Castle (later known as Calenberg Palace and Calenberg Fortress; the ruins are now called Alt Calenberg) was a medieval lowland castle near Pattensen, in the district of Schulenburg, 13 km west of Hildesheim. It was built starting in 1292 by the Guelph Duke Otto the Strict in the Leine floodplain between two branches of the Leine River as a moated castle on the southern part of the Calenberg limestone-marl bank.

In the early 16th century, it was converted into a fortress. This Feste Calenberg gave its name to the Guelph principality of Calenberg, which had been established in the 15th century. After the Thirty Years' War, it lost its military significance and was razed to the ground. Today, it is a ruin with underground vaults, surrounded by high ramparts. The nearby Calenberg estate takes its name from Calenberg Castle.

Calenberg

The castle complex stands on Calenberg, which rises 70 meters above sea level. It was formed nearly 100 million years ago at the beginning of the Upper Cretaceous, during the Cenomanian stage. Before the castle was built, it rose about 10 meters above the floodplain landscape as a limestone-marl bank between the former branches of the Leine River. It encompasses not only the grounds of Calenberg Castle but extends another 500 meters to the north. For this reason, the castle’s moat had to be cut more than ten meters deep into the limestone-marl bank.

© C. Wyrwa

The remains

The remains of the fortress are located in the Alt Calenberg area, which has been part of the Calenberger Leinetal Landscape Conservation Area since 1997. All that remains of the fortress and the castle hill today are the ramparts, cellars, and foundations of the castle, the palace, and the Corvinus Cellar, as well as the ruins of the battery tower. The battery tower and the two cellar rooms have been closed since mid-2008. Bats roost in the vaulted cellars beneath the two wings of the palace. From October 1 through April 30, these hibernating animals should not be disturbed. One of the vaults contains a brick-lined well several meters deep. The underground cellars are so extensive that two children once got lost there and had to be rescued by emergency responders.

According to oral tradition, there are said to have been underground escape routes to Lauenstadt and the diocese of Hildesheim. The ramparts still exist in the north-west, north and north-east. The surrounding ditches no longer carry water. The entire area is covered with trees, shrubs and nettles, and there are also snowdrops and wild daffodils.