Erpenburg Castle (Brenken)

Erpernburg Castle is located about 6 km northeast of the North Rhine-Westphalian town of Büren in the district of Brenken, above the Alme valley.

In the 16th century, the Lords of and zu Brenken moved their residence from the so-called Niederburg in the valley to the height above the northern slope of the Alme into the newly built Erpernburg Castle. During the Thirty Years' War and a fire in 1684, the castle was damaged. The expansion of the current castle complex began in the 18th century under Ferdinand von Brenke and his wife Juliane von Westfalen. The two-story, plastered manor house with a hip roof and the four attached tower projections was built between 1712 and 1723. Nikolaus Wurmstich was named as the master mason in the building records. Five years later, the orangery was built on the garden side of the manor house according to plans by the Paderborn master builder Daniel Gottlieb Schleich. The baroque orangery was converted into a classical garden pavilion in 1833. The complex, which is not open to the public, is still owned by the noble family of the Barons von und zu Brenken today.