Neues Schloss, Dutch Baroque château in Neustadt-Glewe, Germany

Neues Schloss is a two-storey three-wing complex in Dutch Baroque style, built around an honour court and standing on hundreds of oak piles. Its plain country-house exterior contrasts with some 1,600 m² of stucco ceilings and 32 fireplaces decorated with rosettes, cornices and figures. It stands in central Neustadt-Glewe by a western arm of the Elde, near the Alte Burg.

Construction began in 1618/19 on the orders of Duke Adolf Friedrich I, following plans by ducal master builder Gerhart Evert Pilooth; work stopped when he died in 1629. Architect Leonhard Christoph Sturm completed the building between 1711 and 1717, and the interiors took eight more years. From 1725 to 1735 Christian Ludwig II, later Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, lived here after a fire in Grabow.

The building now houses the Hotel Schloss Neustadt-Glewe with its restaurant, so visitors encounter it as a hotel rather than a museum. Its name distinguishes it from the nearby Alte Burg. The stucco ceilings, restored by Polish specialists, cover about 1,600 m² and can be seen in the interiors.

The main entrance is located near the town center of Neustadt-Glewe and is easy to reach. You should allow enough time to explore both the building and the surrounding park areas thoroughly.

The castle stands on hundreds of oak piles driven into the marshy ground by the Elde. By the 1990s these piles were sinking, cracks opened in the walls and nets were stretched under the ceilings to catch falling stucco; the foundations were repaired after 1990. Polish specialists restored the stucco ceilings, about 1,600 m² in all.