Bützow Castle

The original Renaissance castle has been a simple, three-story plastered building with a high gabled roof since its renovation in 1910/1911. The foundations and the former chapel, located on the ground floor and vaulted with cross-ribs in two bays, date from the 13th or 14th century. The construction of the left bay window on the facade facing the castle square presumably began in the 16th century as a stair tower. It was completed after 1566, when the building was converted into a ducal castle, with a simply structured gable. On the northeast side is a helmeted stair tower, set in front of the building. The corner tower on the south side dates from the renovation of 1910/11.

Little of the original interior has been preserved due to the renovation in 1910/1911. For example, the originally wooden and painted ceilings were replaced by reinforced concrete ceilings. A coat of arms and a terracotta ornamental frieze can be seen on the northern part of the eastern wing.

In 1171, the Slavic castle (castrum Butissowe) in the Bützow region (Terra Butissowe) was mentioned. Around 1180, Bützow became a bishop's residence under Bishop Berno and remained so until the Reformation. The Gothic cross-rib-vaulted chapel, which housed the local history museum until 2000, dates from this period. In the 13th century, the castle was destroyed and then rebuilt. At the beginning of the 14th century, the estates and the castle were pledged to the von Bülow family. It was not until 1357 that Bishop Albrecht von Sternberg of Schwerin, after excommunicating several members of the von Bülow family, managed to reach a settlement in June 1363. In it, he granted the House of Bülow the episcopal residences in Bützow and Warin. The Bützow collegiate church passed to Duke Ulrich of Mecklenburg in 1540 during the Reformation. He converted the castle into a Renaissance castle in 1556. From 1713, it served as the dowager residence for Duchess Sophie-Charlotte until her death in 1749. In the autumn of 1760, Duke Friedrich of Mecklenburg (1756–1785) founded the Friedrichs-Universität Bützow, which was partly housed in the castle. Already in April 1789, the university was reunited with the University of Rostock and thus dissolved in Bützow.

From 1812 to 1879, the Criminal College (High Court) was located in the castle. In 1910/1911, the castle was restored and rebuilt. The commission was given to the senior regional master builder Adolf Prahst. Parts of the castle were demolished. After the Second World War, during the GDR era, the building housed the cultural center and later a library and a museum. In the 1980s, the Ratskeller restaurant was in the basement, a library on the ground floor, the city museum on the first floor, and a music school on the second floor. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the building stood empty and was sold to private investors first in 1993 and then again in 2001. In 2010, the extensive renovation of the castle began. It is intended to be used as a residential building.