Ralswiek Castle

Ralswiek Castle is a manor house in the village of Ralswiek on the island of Rügen. It is situated on a hill above the Great Jasmund Bodden.

Ralswiek is an old settlement site and was held in fee by various Rügen noble families. The old manor house is located to the left of the current building. The originally single-story building was demolished in the 19th century and rebuilt with two stories and a Renaissance gable.

In 1891, the estate was sold to the manufacturer Hugo Sholto Graf Douglas from Aschersleben. From 1894 to 1896, he had the Neo-Renaissance house, designed by the Berlin architect Gustav Stroh, built based on the model of French Renaissance châteaux. It is a rectangular building flanked by two towers with conical roofs. The east side of the building faces the Bodden. The dome of the tower located in front of the entrance overtops the two outer towers. The main building contains a covered courtyard. In 1913, the stable was added, designed by the Stralsund master builder Franz Juhre.

The largely preserved interior was partly designed by the significant Art Nouveau artist, painter, and architect Henry van de Velde.

After the expropriation and expulsion of the Douglas family by the communists in 1945, the castle was used as a retirement home and later as a home for people with disabilities and a nursing home by the German Red Cross. In 1999, conversion into a hotel began, and Ralswiek Castle has been used as a hotel ever since.

At the foot of the building, on the shores of the Great Jasmund Bodden, there is an open-air stage. The Störtebeker Festival is performed here from late June to early September.

The extensive park surrounding the house is one of Rügen's most remarkable garden complexes due to its botanical diversity. It was laid out in 1810 and expanded and developed by Count Douglas.