Schlossresidenz
Schloss Ricklingen: eight hundred years on the Leine.
Drive through the gate of the Schlossresidenz today, and you are crossing ground that has been lived on for eight hundred years. Schloss Ricklingen, officially spelt Schloß Ricklingen, is a district of the town of Garbsen, west of Hanover on the river Leine. The village takes its name from the castle that later became the Schloss.
The moated castle on the Leine
Around 1225, Count Konrad II of Roden had a moated castle built on the Leine. The village is first mentioned in records in the same year.
The siege of 1385
Ricklingen became known for an event the village still remembers today. In 1385, Duke Albrecht of Saxe-Wittenberg laid siege to the castle. During the siege he was struck by a stone from a sling and died of his injuries. The Duke Albrecht memorial in the village keeps the story alive to this day.
From castle to administrative seat
Over the centuries the castle became the Schloss, and the Schloss became a seat of administration: as the Amtshaus, it was the centre from which the Amt Ricklingen district was governed, in the area around present-day Garbsen. In the village centre stands the church of Schloß Ricklingen, a baroque building completed in 1696.
The heart of today's estate is an 18th-century baroque building, erected on older foundations. The yellow main house is the private residence of the Fuhrmann family and is not open to the public.
The estate today
The former administrative seat has become an estate with 80,000 square metres of parkland: two ponds, old trees, and meadows that end only at the horizon. The half-timbered building on the courtyard and the house by the pond now hold fourteen apartments and suites, let as the Schlossresidenz. The cobbled avenue, the gate, the courtyard: much of what guests see first on arrival still speaks of the history of the place.
Staying here, you are not living in a museum but in a house that has grown over centuries and is still lived in today. More about the house and your hosts
History nearby
Ricklingen is not the only chapter. Within twenty minutes to an hour you can reach some of the most important places in the history of the House of Guelph:
- Herrenhausen Gardens, Hanover: baroque garden art of European standing, around twenty minutes.
- Marienburg Castle near Pattensen: the neo-Gothic castle that King George V of Hanover had built for Queen Marie.
- Schloss Landestrost in Neustadt am Rübenberge: a Renaissance palace of the Guelph dukes.
- Celle Castle: the former residence of the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
You will find more ideas for a day out under Surroundings and day trips.
Staying in Schloss Ricklingen
The Schlossresidenz lies in the heart of Schloss Ricklingen: fourteen apartments and suites with their own kitchens, breakfast included, twenty minutes from Hanover.
See availability and prices
Source of the historical information: Wikipedia, article “Schloß Ricklingen”, accessed on 24 September 2026.