Deep in the Uckermark, the skeletal remains of a magnificent English Tudor-style castle stand as a haunting monument to a vanished era. Built by Baron von Warburg in 1861, this architectural jewel once bridged the gap between Prussian pride and medieval chivalry.
Today, the wind whistles through empty casements where nature slowly reclaims the crumbling walls and sun-drenched ruins. From a masterpiece of the Ascanian edge to a legendary "lost place," its story is one of noble ambition met by decades of silent decay.
On the edge of the former Ascanian Empire, a noble family from Saxony-Anhalt once built themselves a magnificent castle in the English Tudor style. Today, the pride of the Mark Brandenburg is a ruin and a pilgrimage site for those who appreciate decay.
In whistling winds
The wind whistles through the window openings, trees grow from the battlements on the roof, and where roofs once stood, gaping holes now remain, held together only by a few charred beams. The proud castle, which Baron Wilhelm Georg von Warburg had built in 1861 in the tiny village of Hohenlandin in the Uckermark district of Brandenburg, is, 160 years later, kept alive only by decades of habit.
Hardly anyone lives here anymore in this remote location between Schwedt an der Oder and Prenzlau, where the Ascanian Empire ended 800 years ago at the height of its power. At that time, the noble family of Aschersleben acquired the Uckermark region in exchange for Wolgast – the historic contract was signed just a few kilometers from Warburg's dream castle, at the small Kappenberg hill.
Traces of the Ascanians
Like the House of Ascania, the von Warburg family also originated in what is now Saxony-Anhalt. Knight Hinricus de Warborch is said to have come to Mecklenburg from Wahrburg, now a district of Stendal. A branch of the family, whose coat of arms features three roses, purchased land in Hohenlandin in 1798 for 80,000 talers. Hohenlandin is a crossroads of three roads, lined with three dozen farmsteads.
Half a century after the Prussian Major General Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm von Warburg became the lord of the manor, his son Wilhelm Georg von Warburg commissioned the architect Ferdinand Neubert to build a castle in the English Tudor style on the foundations of a 14th-century manor house.
The models were to be the works of the Neuruppin architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who, with his neo-Gothic castles, churches, and museums, had established a German national architecture that bridged the gap to an era ascribed to grandeur, honor, and chivalry.
Outbuildings lie in ruins
Wilhelm Georg von Warburg must have been a fan. A four-hour carriage ride from the nearest town, a medieval fairytale castle arose in the Brandenburg sands, one that could just as easily have stood in Southampton or Plymouth.
In the middle of nowhere, the angular tower at the southeast corner still rises prominently, crowned by four battlements. From a distance, it is an impressive landmark, situated in a park designed by Peter Joseph Lenné, the Director General of Prussian Gardens. The park includes a distillery and granaries, a grotto, a pavilion, a basilica, and a pond. But with every step closer, the majesty of the 40-meter-long, asymmetrical building diminishes.
"Warburg House," as the listed building is known among enthusiasts of so-called "lost places" - abandoned by humans and slowly reclaimed by nature - is a complete ruin. Wild grain grows where a large conservatory once stood. There is no roof, no floors, and no stairs. Damaged eagles and a terracotta griffin adorn the facade. Plaster crumbles, and climbing plants twine up the walls.
Prussian eagles and the Pomeranian griffin
Warburg House has stood empty for decades. After the Second World War, the Berlin construction family who had bought it from the Warburgs were expropriated. Years of use as a kindergarten and school followed before the decision was made in 1977 to abandon the building. The maintenance costs had simply become too great for the shortages of the GDR's planned economy.
In the 45 years since, the Tudor castle, once the pride of the region, has burned down, collapsed, and been ravaged by storms. Just a few years ago, the Förderkreis Speicher und Schloss Landin (Landin Granary and Castle Preservation Society) was founded with the initial goal of establishing a summer café and a stage in the still well-preserved granary building.
So far, the project is still in its early stages, and the search for an investor willing to provide the millions needed to save the historic structure has not yet been successful.
About the Gemeindespeicher (Community Granary) initiative: www.gemeindespeicher.de
