page_title: Wolfsburg Castle
section_title: Medieval castle
hierarchical_section_title: Wolfsburg Castle / Construction history / Medieval castle
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Schloss Wolfsburg, Suedwest-Ecke und Turm von oben, Dachlandschaft
context_page_description: The Wolfsburg is medieval lowland and water castle in North Germany that was first mentioned in the records in 1302, but has since been turned into a Renaissance schloss or palace. It is located in eastern Lower Saxony in the town of Wolfsburg named after it and in whose possession it has been since 1961. The Wolfsburg developed from a tower house on the River Aller into a water castle with the character of a fortification. In the 17th century it was turned into a representative, but nevertheless defensible palace that was the northernmost example of the Weser Renaissance style. Its founder and builder was the noble family of von Bartensleben. After their line died out in 1742 the Wolfsburg was inherited by the counts of Schulenburg.
context_section_description: In the early stages around 1300 the Wolfsburg only had a stone tower house (Wohnturm) on the Aller, whose precursor may have been a wooden watchtower in the style of a lowland motte. The present, roughly 23 metre high tower, later designated as the bergfried, is the oldest surviving part of the present site. It was accessible halfway up by a wooden staircase or ladder that could be hauled up in the face of enemy attack. To begin with, it may have been the tower house of the von Bartenslebens themselves. Over time it did not do justice to as an aristocratic residence and domestic building, and as a consequence other buildings and fortifications were constructed. Within the later castle, the bergfried acted as a dungeon and prison.
  Due to its situation in the Aller valley, the castle was probably surrounded by water from the outset. Certainly until the 19th century it was protected by two moats that were fed from the nearby Aller and the Hasselbach stream. The inner moat encircled the castle itself which, together with its drawbridges, made it a water castle. The outer moat surrounded the larger outer ward (Vorburg), a refuge place for the lord's subjects in time of war. In addition this area was protected by a curtain wall with defensive bastions or Rondellen, against which the later domestic buildings and stables, the present coach houses (Remisen) were built. Investigations in recent times revealed that the castle was not, as previously suspected, built on piles in boggy terrain. For the most part it stands on a sandy subsoil and only rests in places on oak piles.
caption: View of the southwest corner with its staircase tower, the Wendelsteinturm
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