To be privately owned
ManorPronstorf
Pronstorf Manor
The Pronstorf Estate is located directly on Lake Warder in the municipality of Pronstorf, a few kilometers east of Bad Segeberg in Schleswig-Holstein. The estate is owned by the Rantzau family and is still managed today. The 18th-century manor house is considered – alongside the manor house of Gut Güldenstein – one of the main works of Baroque architecture in Holstein.
The area of the present estate has been settled for many centuries. Before Christianization, there may have been a cult site dedicated to the god Perun by the Wends, from which the name of the later settlement could have been derived. Since the Middle Ages, Pronstorf was owned by the so-called Knights of Pronstorf, who were a collateral line of the ancient noble family Buchwaldt and owned a fortified manor, a castrum, here. From this castle emerged the noble estate of Pronstorf during the 16th century, which remained in the possession of the Buchwaldts with minor interruptions until the 19th century.
During the Thirty Years' War, Pronstorf was devastated by imperial troops in 1643. By the 18th century, the estate was rebuilt, and the present manor house was constructed from 1716 onwards. At the end of the 19th century, Pronstorf passed by inheritance to the Breitenburg line of the Rantzau family, in whose possession the estate remains to this day.
Present Day
The estate's farming operations at Pronstorf continue to this day. The focus of the over 1000-hectare estate is now on agriculture and forestry; livestock farming no longer plays a role at Pronstorf. In addition to agricultural operations, the estate is also used for tourism. In summer, concerts of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival take place on the grounds, and the Pronstorf Christmas Market is one of the most famous events in the region. From 2008, the gatehouse, once used as a granary, was converted to serve as an exhibition space and guesthouse in the future. Furthermore, rooms are rented for conferences or festivities. The manor house is privately owned and not accessible; it can only be viewed to a limited extent from the outside.
Buildings+
The Manor House
The manor house at Pronstorf is often also referred to as a castle. It is considered one of the most significant works of secular Baroque architecture in Holstein and served as a model for the manor house built in neo-Baroque forms in 1912 on the neighboring Rohlstorf Estate.
The house was built from 1716 to 1728 as a successor to a double house. Rudolph Matthias Dallin or Johannes Nicolaus Kuhn are presumed to be the architects, though this cannot be proven. The manor house is a wide, eleven-axis building with a basement and two full stories under a large mansard roof. A gabled, three-axis central risalit projects shallowly from both long sides of the building. The narrow sides of the building are extended wing-like over a width of two window axes, so that the manor house has an – for Holstein conditions – extremely dynamic facade structure. The entire building is articulated all around with brick colossal pilasters. Towards the end of the 18th century, minor alterations were made to the facades, such as the sandstone portal.
The interior decoration of the Pronstorf manor house was originally in the Baroque style. At the beginning of the 19th century, a partial redecoration took place in the now contemporary style of Classicism. Notable rooms include the vestibule with the adjoining garden hall, as well as the large salon.
The Outbuildings and the Estate Village
The manor house, the farmyard, and the landscape park of the estate are located directly on Lake Warder, where the Wensin and Rohlstorf estates are also situated. The outbuildings of the estate complex date from various centuries. Adjacent to the manor house is the late Baroque Cavalier's House from 1790. Other buildings include various farm buildings, the largest of which is the gatehouse from 1914. It is one of the largest gatehouses in Schleswig-Holstein, its footprint and volume exceeding the manor house several times over. After serving primarily as a grain storage for many years, the building has been renovated since 2008 and given a modern use. During this process, earlier dormer windows are being reconstructed and disruptive 20th-century installations removed.
The estate village of Pronstorf has preserved a relatively uniform overall appearance to this day. The center of the village, with its nearly 100 inhabitants, is the still medieval-influenced Vicelin Church, which was also the patron church of the estate lords. The patron's box, built under the Buchwaldt family, still bears witness to this today.
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Source: Wikipedia · Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Pronstorf_Herrenhaus.JPG
This description draws on the facts documented in the linked Wikipedia article; Wikipedia content is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Wording and editing: Mobile History.
Location: 53.9557, 10.4662