Hessisch Oldendorf Castle

The Münchhausen-Hof, originally located on an arm of the Weser river, is one of the largest and most important noble estates of the Weser Renaissance. The estate complex probably originated in the 13th century. Since the 14th century, it was owned by the von Büschen family. Heilwig Büschen married Börries von Münchhausen (1515–1583), lord of Apelern and Lauenau, who in 1565 received the estates of Hessisch Oldendorf and Remeringhausen from his father-in-law Claus Büschen. (The poet Börries von Münchhausen impressively described this last will and testament and the burial of Claus Büschen in his ballad "Der Letzte des Geschlechts".) In 1583, Börries, who had already begun the construction of the castle in Apelern, started building the current Weser Renaissance castle Oldendorf, which his widow completed. The manor house is a two-wing complex with a polygonal stair tower. Inside, a hall has been preserved, whose door and fireplace are decorated with strapwork. In the division of inheritance among the sons of Börries and Heilwig in 1594, the Burgmannshof in Hessisch Oldendorf and Remeringhausen fell to their son Ludolf von Münchhausen, who lived in the castle until 1640 and, as a humanist and man of letters, amassed a significant library. In 1596, he acquired the sundial adorning the building from Henning Ebbeke. From 1783, the Münchhausens of Lauenau leased the knight's estate, and since 1947, the current estate is no longer in the family's possession.