Schwerin, Lulu and the Grand Duke

This photo is of the castle at Schwerin in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern


The Duchy of Mecklenburg was created in the 14th century. In 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, it was elevated to a Grand Duchy - for the very good reason that its ruler had joined the fight against Napoleon at the right time.

Schwerin was the Duchy's capital, and the ducal residence from 1358. A castle was constructed on an island at the southern end of a large lake, and connected to the mainland by two causeways.

The castle was large, and over the years the variety of architectural styles of alterations, additions and rebuildings gave it a rather endearing, mongrel look.


In the early 18th century the son of Duke Christian Ludwig II (1728 - 1756) built a modest hunting lodge, the better to indulge his favourite pastime. This was located about 50 kms south of Schwerin, and was named "Ludwigs-Lust" in recognition of the Duke's delight at it. (The German word "Lust" can be variously translated as joy, pleasure or delight; it does not have the connotations of the English word.)

On the Duke's death, the son - Duke Frederick II (1756-85) - demolished the hunting lodge and built a castle on the site. In baroque style arose a building dubbed "the little Versailles of Mecklenburg." The new Duke moved his ducal residence to the castle, and it was to be Mecklenburg's administrative capital for the next 70 years.

Three generations later, and a few decades after the state's elevation to Grand Duchy, Grand Duke Frederick Francis II decided to return to Schwerin. There was a problem to resolve: the remodelling of the mongrel castle on the island.

For the task Frederick Francis II (1842-83) employed as architect a former pupil of Karl Friedrich Schinkel, the genius responsible for the most impressive classical architecture of resurgent Berlin. The pupil was Georg Adolf Dammler; he would become to Schwerin what Schinkel was to Berlin.

Within little more than a decade the massive undertaking work was completed. The Grand Duke had asked for the new castle to be designed in the Renaissance style of Chambord, the largest castle in the Loire valley. (Parts of the earlier castle remained.) The Grand Duke no doubt considered this to be the appropriate action for someone in his exalted rank; you might also call it keeping up with the Hohenzollerns, his near neighbours and rulers of Berlin and Brandenburg.


Today the castle is undergoing major renovation work. It is capital of the new federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern created after the reunification of Germany.


The town of Schwerin is well worth a visit; among other sites of interest, its State Museum (adjacent to the lake and opposite the castle) houses a stunning collection of paintings.


I had almost forgotten about Lulu, but you may have worked this out anyway: it is the local nickname for "Ludwigs-Lust".