Wolfsburg Castle

Wolfsburg Castle is the namesake and landmark of the young, soon to be 80-year-old city of Wolfsburg. It was built as a castle more than seven centuries ago by the knights of the Bartensleben dynasty, and around 1600 it was remodeled and expanded into a magnificent castle of the North German Renaissance. Since the middle of the 18th century the lords of the castle were the Counts of Schulenburg. Their Wolfsburg line was founded by the marriage of the heiress Anna Adelheit Catharina from the von Bartensleben family to Adolf Friedrich Reichsgraf von der Schulenburg. The economic basis of the Wolfsburgs was the regionally far-reaching estate economy. Only with the establishment of the Volkswagen plant and the city in 1938 did the agricultural and forestry structure change. On the estates of the Wolfsburg castle lords, among others, a modern automobile factory was built as well as the quarters for the factory workers and their families.

It was only after the end of the Second World War that the "model city" planned by the National Socialists on the drawing board and realized in its infancy was given its present name of Wolfsburg, and the tradition-steeped architectural monument itself has adorned the city's coat of arms ever since. In the early 1960s, the city's mothers and fathers decided to develop Wolfsburg Castle into an important urban center for art and culture. Sculptors, graphic artists, painters, photographers and ceramic artists came together as a group under the postal address "Schloßstraße 8" and set up studios, exhibition areas and in some cases apartments in the castle rooms and adjoining remises. Today, this claim is represented at Wolfsburg Castle by the Wolfsburg Art Association as the oldest institution for fine arts in Wolfsburg and the Municipal Gallery, the Heidersberger Institute and the Wolfsburg Castle Municipal Museum.

Wolfsburg Art Association

Thanks to its innovative exhibitions and events, Kunstverein Wolfsburg has gained national and international renown. In 2007, it was awarded the ADKV Prize (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Kunstverein) as the best German art association. Each year, a coherent annual program is developed, whose exhibitions and projects are complemented by lectures, discussions, film evenings and concerts. Since 2010, the "Room for Friends" has provided an additional opportunity to present exhibitions or other cultural activities at short notice and on the spur of the moment. Presentations of music labels, magazines or gallery projects have already taken place there. Overall, the focus of the Kunstverein is on artists of the younger generation whose works provide relevant answers to questions of the time.

Municipal gallery

The Städtische Galerie moved into the old Wolfsburg Castle in 1974 with young art. Exhibitions and installations of contemporary art are presented on several floors in dialogue with the architecture. Some are quite fresh, others are a bit older, because art from 1945 onwards is purchased for the collection of the City of Wolfsburg. Young artists also frequently have the chance to present their art for a few weeks at the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg.

The artist created this work in 2002 on the occasion of the awarding of the City of Wolfsburg's art prize "Young City Sees Young Art," which is presented every three years in the Garden Hall of Wolfsburg Castle. The expansive installation is now on permanent display at the Städtische Galerie.

Institute Heidersberger

Building history of Wolfsburg Castle

Visitors can find out more about the architectural history of the 700-year-old Wolfsburg Castle and its former inhabitants on tours, for example through the Garden Hall, the Courtroom or the Hunting Hall, through the former baroque garden or the English landscape garden, which are offered by the City Museum in the M2K. In its rooms in the Schlossremisen, the museum paints an overall portrait of Wolfsburg, spanning from National Socialist planning and reality in an "exemplary workers' town" to the "economic miracle town" and today's metropolis. Sometimes rather garish exhibits such as a completely preserved hairdressing salon from the 1950s or a VW welder's suit, flip books, audio and multimedia stations with eyewitness accounts, pop songs and animations about the history of the castle convey the history of everyday life, design, culture and politics. Small exhibits, which often tell wonderful stories, are displayed in showcase drawers. For the public, the city museum in the M2K is an open space for lively historical work and cultural encounters.
The city museum in the M2K and the Institute for Contemporary History and City Presentation Wolfsburg pay tribute to the experiences of thousands of people who were forced laborers and prisoners of war during the Second World War in the documentation on the victims of National Socialist tyranny on the upper floor. In a former brewery barn of the Wolfsburg estate not far from the castle, visitors can learn more about the agricultural character of the local region before the Volkswagen factory and city were founded. In the agricultural section of the city museum, various machines and equipment from simple hoe plows to horse-drawn lorries and combine harvesters from the 1950s provide an insight into rural life and technical developments over the past 100 years.

The four-winged Wolfsburg Palace with its high and striking Hausmannsturm tower is surrounded by a palace park that was laid out as an English landscape garden in the 18th century. The original baroque garden is no longer preserved, but opposite the palace portal, a green area in the garden style of European absolutism invites visitors to stroll and linger. On the steps in front of the beautiful garden hall in the palace, bridal couples regularly show their happiness to friends, relatives and visitors to the palace park. The city's KulturWerk welcomes artists from all over the world, guests from near and far and the people of Wolfsburg to well-known cultural events such as the International Summer Stage every year in June or the "Advent im Schloss" Christmas market held on the second weekend in Advent.

Culinary delights are provided by the team at the "Schlossremise" café-restaurant, which is located in the former "garage" for the stately carriages.

The Heidersberger Institute, the Kunstverein Wolfsburg, the Stadtmuseum im M2K, the Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg, the Junge Kunst e.V., the Wolfsburger Kunstverein CREARTE e.V. and the café-restaurant "Schlossremise" look forward to your visit to Wolfsburg Castle and its facilities