Thursday, February 20, 2020

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 439




Hardenberg Castle, near Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany, ca 1911


This used postcard has a photograph of the ruins of Hardenberg Castle, seen at the top of the hill, located on the river Leine, about 10 km or approximately 6 miles north of Göttingen, Germany.  The card has a postmark date of 2? 8 11 [2? August 1911].  The handwritten date in the message is 24 August with no year.   The card has the number 22407 and the name of the publisher:  Kunstverlagsantalt A. J. Bellson, Cassel, Wolfsschlucht 13, printed along the left margin on the reverse.  The picture is a “Real Photo” and A.J.Bellson was an art publishing company. 

Both the castle and the town of Göttingen have beginnings around 1100, with what became eventually a city, first part of a village called Gutingi in 953 AD.   The city was formally founded between 1150 and 1200 AD and the Electors of Mainz built the castle about 1101.  In medieval times the city was a member of the Hanseatic League and a wealthy town.  In 1409 the ownership of the castle was split between two family branches.  A thunderstorm in 1698 partially destroyed the castle and it was abandoned in 1720 eventually becoming a ruin.  Descendants of the Hardenberg family still own the castle but live in a nearby manor house.  The Hardenberg-Wilthen distillery was founded in 1700 and today is the second largest liquor producer in Germany. 

Visitors can take tours of the castle ruins and grounds.

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nörten-Hardenberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Göttingen
http://www.pizzatravel.com.ua/eng/germany/9/castle_and_palace_hardenberg

No comments:

Post a Comment