A paper-mache Versailles - Ludwigslust Castle in north-east Germany

By Andreas Heimann Jun 15, 2010, 12:51 GMT

Ludwigslust, Germany - It is an amazing thing, when one considers it, that there actually is a castle in Ludwigslust - and a large one at that, in what is a small town of just 12,500 residents in Germany's north-east.

With its broad facade, dozens of windows, four-metre-tall columns and its nearly 100 rooms, the castle seems to be a size too large for the town in the rural state of Mecklenburg-West Pommerania.

The castle grounds can also surprise visitors with their size. At 130 hectares, it is the largest park in Mecklenburg, and is in itself worth the visit.

The Regional Express train takes about a half hour to reach Ludwigslust from the nearby state capital of Schwerin. There's not much to see along that route except for birch and fir-tree forests, expansive fields and, here and there, hunters' stands.

It was hunting that Christian Ludwig II especially enjoyed. The Duke of Mecklenburg came to the region so often that he had a hunting lodge built on the edge of the village of Klenow.

In 1754, the records say, 'his highness the duke and most gracious ruler of the land' decreed that the lodge was to be called 'Ludwigs- Lust' (Ludwig's delight).

His son Friedrich went even further two years later, moving the seat of government from Schwerin to the remote setting. He then had a much larger castle built, inspired by the French royalty's Palace of Versailles.

For this, he first had to raze the village of Klenow. His father's hunting lodge also was torn down. Instead, a scenic baroque-style town was built around the splendid new castle.

A later ruler who was less enthusiastic about rural life moved the seat of government back to Schwerin. But the decades in which the Mecklenburg dukes ruled from Ludwigslust have left their stamp on the town's appearance to this very day.

'The ducal family was also allowed to keep the castle after 1918,' notes Waltraut Flick, chairwoman of the Ludwigslust Castle promotion society, referring to the year of revolution when Germany abolished the monarchy and curbed the privileges of the aristocratic class.

'Since 1922, part of it has been a museum,' she added.

That same year, Ludwigslust was accorded the status of a district administrative city. Following the founding of communist East Germany after World War II, the local administration moved into the castle. Today, the castle is Ludwiglust's number-one attraction.

The biggest impression is still made by the Golden Room. It was here that the duke would hold concerts. Today, it is the setting for the Ludwigslust Castle concert series running from April to October.

As in its Versailles predecessor, the huge Golden Room is a showy display of mirrors and lavish decorations. But not everything that glitters is gold - the dukes, though trying to imitate French 'Sun King' Louis XIV, could not actually afford it.

As a result, a lot of the decor in the castle is made of paper- mache, produced in a local Ludwigslust plant.

Doors can thus be decorated just as inexpensively as columns. Even sculptors faced this kind of competition: inside the castle, there is also a Venus statue - made completely out of paper-mache.

'It's deceptively real,' says museum staff member Sylvia Wulff.

Naturally all the portraits of the erstwhile rulers are to be seen here too. There's one, for example, of Friedrich Franz I, a bon vivant and ladies' man who, besides his own legitimate children, sired more than 40 illegitimate offspring.

The castle's original builder, Friedrich the Pious, was just the opposite: he had no children.

In fact, he ordered the Schwerin theatre to be closed down because he considered theatrical plays to be a sin. Instead, he had a huge church built in Ludwigslust. He was buried there in 1785. His sarcophagus stands in the middle aisle.

But even for building the church, there were not unlimited means available.

'The altar wall consists of wood,' points out Henrik Wegner, chairman of the local society, Barocklust.

The coffered ceiling is also made of a mixture of wood, thatched reeds and plaster.