Baroque castle in Zichow beside a surviving 13th-century keep.
Baroque castle complex in Zichow, Uckermark, Germany, built in 1745 on the foundations of an older medieval castle. Beside it stands the 13th-century keep, first documented in 1527. The protected ensemble also includes an estate manager’s house and a small park with a pond.
Zichower Schloss is a protected castle and palace complex in Zichow, in the municipality of Amt Gramzow in Germany’s Uckermark district. The site originated as a medieval castle, probably built in the mid-13th century during the German eastward colonization. Zichow itself is first mentioned in a 1288 document from the monastery of Gramzow. The original castle’s construction date is not clearly established. It passed to Pomerania in 1354 under the Treaty of Oderberg and was expressly mentioned in the 1355 border agreements between Pomerania and Brandenburg. In 1447, under Elector Frederick II, it returned to Brandenburg, and in 1449 it was pledged to Hans von Beerfelde on condition that he garrison and maintain it. From 1456 until 1945, the estate belonged to the von Arnim family. After a fire, the family built a palace on the old castle foundations in 1745. The present building is a two-storey Baroque structure with an L-shaped ground plan and hipped roof. Beside it stands the Fangerturm, the keep of the older 13th-century castle, first documented in 1527 and the only surviving part of the medieval complex. The ensemble also includes a listed estate manager’s house and a small park with a pond. In 2015, the municipality sold the complex to investor Georg Thaler.
