Hohen Niendorf Castle

In the southwest of the village of Hohen Niendorf, at the edge of the forest, lies the hunting lodge with a castle park of approximately 70,000 m². It was built in 1865 as a manor house by the Wismar architect Heinrich Thormann for Count v. Wilamowitz-Möllendorff and was extended and transformed into a "hunting lodge" in 1912.

The castle park was laid out in 1866 according to the plans of a Rostock landscape architect as an English landscape garden. It includes a large meadow, various tree species, and a pond. Worth seeing are, for example, the approximately 15-meter-high holly and a gnarled holm oak, which are over 120 years old, as well as rhododendrons that grow throughout the park and a variety of spruces and other natural woods originating from North America, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, and Japan.

In 1945, the owners were expropriated and expelled by the communists. In the 1970s, the manor house served as a holiday home for the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB). Several owners tried to preserve the building in the 1980s until 1995 but failed due to its dilapidated condition.

The castle and the park are listed as historical monuments and were renovated starting in spring 2009. The complete completion took place in June 2010. 21 holiday apartments were created, contributing to the revitalization of the village. Currently (as of January 2014), further renovation of the buildings in the park is underway.

The park with its megalithic tombs, bronze sculptures, and the swan pond is semi-public and can be used for walks. The bronze sculptures are test casts and were discovered during the clearing of the park. The originals stand in the pedestrian zone in Rostock.