Castle Calberwisch
An idyllic event location with a history
Between 1150 and 1170 Count Werner the third von Osterburg built the village Calberwisch with the help of Saxon colonists. If you visit Calberwisch today (southeast of Osterburg), apart from the originally Romanesque village church, especially the building of the castle will attract your attention.
Calberwisch castle represents one of the most imposing monuments among the manor houses in the Altmark and is of supra-regional importance, not least because of the names of its architects – the Berlin professor Martin Gropius and the building surveyor H. Schmieden.
The castle was built in the style of the Renaissance Revival. Together with H. Schmieden, Martin Gropius completed important public buildings in the last century, including the Kiel university building, the Berlin Kunstgewerbemuseum (Museum of Applied Art), and the new Gewandhaus in Leipzig.
The castle Calberwisch fits into the series of his numerous designs for villas in Berlin and its surroundings. It was built in 1875 under Bernhard von Jagow, cavalry captain of the Potsdam "Gardes du Corps" and his wife Johanna, daughter of Count Pourtalés.
There is a contemporary description of the castle in the "Pictures of the Altmark" published in 1882/83 by Ludolf Parisius and Hermann Dietrichs.
"The old courtyard side, surrounded by moats, now only consists of farm buildings and a simple residential house. The old "Haus Calberwisch" from past times - a tall, impressive wooden building with very massive foundation walls - was thoroughly restored in 1692 and then torn down in 1839 due to dilapidation.
Not far from there, in the middle of the park, whose lawns and flowerbeds are shaded by the giant crowns of old oaks, rises a magnificent castle, a manor house, quite modern, but built after good old examples…".
Two medallion reliefs, high up on the wall, give visitors information about the inhabitants. Opposite the picture of the owner, the picture of knight Matthias von Jagow, one of the oldest ancestors, designed by Count Harrach, was given the place of honour. The von Jagow family had already been enfeoffed with the Calberwish knight's seat in 1524. The von Jagows lived in the castle until their escape in 1946.
The number 1875, which can be read on the first picture, depicts the year the house was built in.
The number from the second picture indicates the first appearance of the von Jagow family in history.
For varied decades, it served as a home for war refugees, a day-care centre, a co-op and even a youth club.
In 1995 the castle was lovingly renovated in the original style and turned into a hotel and restaurant. Mrs. Gabriele Rohleder acquired the estate in 2016.
