The garden around the Castle is probably the most diverse garden and the most beautiful one that you will see during the 2009 German Federal Horticultural Exhibition in Schwerin. The highlight and pièce de résistance is the orangery, which today houses a café. It is the only orangery in Germany built directly onto a castle. In the mid-19^th century its cast-iron construction was the very latest in engineering technology.

The Castle Garden is not designed as a single unit. On the banks of Castle Island it is possible to find elements of English landscape gardens, documented in broad sweeps of lawn with some trees. Linked to the Castle itself is a feature built in the style of an Italian terrace garden of the Renaissance period.

Even as far back as 1,000 years ago, there was a fortified compound built by the Slavs on what we know as Castle Island today, and wooden beams and planks have been found during excavations. With the settlement by the Germans of the Slavic areas and the founding of the city of Schwerin in 1160 by Henry the Lion, a castle was built on the island in Lake Schwerin, and over the course of the centuries this has been gradually rebuilt and added to. Since 1857, when it underwent the biggest rebuilding programme in its history, Schwerin Castle has been seen in its present design and form.
The Castle Garden was also repeatedly redesigned over the course of time. Its ultimate design dates from 1857, and it is on this basis that today’s restorations are being carried out. Ideological beliefs during the Communist era resulted in a lack of care and historically inaccurate restructuring.

The Seven Gardens

Map of Gardens