Norderburg, Water castle in Dornum, Germany.
Norderburg is a water castle in Dornum, East Frisia, surrounded by moats that encircle the main building on all sides. Two stone lions flank the main gateway, and the complex is made up of several connected buildings grouped around inner courtyards.
The castle was built in the late 17th and early 18th centuries as a fortified residence for a noble family in East Frisia. In 1951 the building was converted into a school and has been used for that purpose ever since.
The Knight's Hall inside the building still has baroque paintings on its walls, showing the taste of East Frisian nobility from the 17th century. Visitors who enter can see rooms that once served as formal spaces for a noble family and now belong to a very different daily routine.
The building is easy to see from outside, and visitors can view the moats and the gateway from the street without entering. Since the building is an active school, it is worth checking in advance when the grounds are open to the public.
Although the castle is listed as a protected monument, it is used every day by students who attend school inside one of the few historic buildings of this kind still in educational use in Germany. The stone lions at the entrance, normally a symbol of noble power, greet schoolchildren every morning.
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