Leineschloss

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Main Entrance Landtag Niedersachsen.jpg
Main Entrance
Leine river frontage Leineschloss Leine.jpg
Leine river frontage
The late renaissance palace (former Franciscan friary), before the neoclassical renovation of 1816 1815 und 1835 circa Wilhelm Kretschmer Aquarell Stadtschloss Leineschloss in der Leinstrasse mit Hoftheater, Schlosskirche und Domanenkammer, Besitz im Historischen Museum Hannover.jpg
The late renaissance palace (former Franciscan friary), before the neoclassical renovation of 1816

The Leineschloss (English: Leine Palace), situated on the Leine in Hanover, Germany, is the former residence of the Hanoverian dukes, electors and kings. Currently it is the seat of the Landtag of Lower Saxony.

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The first building on the site was a Franciscan friary, constructed in about 1300, which was abandoned in 1533 after the Protestant Reformation. In 1636, George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, began converting the monastery into a rather small late renaissance palace as his residence as ruler of the Principality of Calenberg. The former monastery church served as a castle church and royal burial place. His son, Elector Ernest Augustus, had it enlarged and modernized and added a theatre in the late 17th century. The Principality was elevated to the Electorate of Hanover in 1692. In 1742 the north-west wing was renewed.

From 1814, the previously electoral palace was the residence of the Kingdom of Hanover. Between 1816 and 1844, the architect Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves fully re-built the palace. The column portico with six Corinthian columns was built during this period. The youngest son of George III, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, officiated as Viceroy of Hanover from 1816. Kings Ernest Augustus and George V were the first and only monarchs to have their main residence in the state capital and in the Leine Palace between 1837 and 1866. ALthough, it was intended to transfer the main seat to the Welfenschloss palace.

During World War II, the Leineschloss burnt out entirely after Allied aerial raids. King George I of Great Britain was originally buried in the Chapel of the Leineschloss, but his remains, along with his parents', were moved to the 19th-century mausoleum of King Ernest Augustus in the Berggarten of Herrenhausen Palace after World War II. [1] Architect Dieter Oesterlen re-built the palace between 1957 and 1962.

In August 2016 bones were found in the Leineschloss during a renovation project; it was believed that the bones were the remains of Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, the lover of the wife of the later king George I of Great Britain who was killed there in July, 1694. [2] [3] However, subsequent tests proved that some of the bones were from animals, while the human bones came from at least five different skeletons. None have been proven to belong to Königsmarck. [4]

See also

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References

  1. Weir, Alison (1996). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, Revised edition. Random House. pp. 272–276. ISBN   0-7126-7448-9.
  2. A Skeleton Found in a Castle Could Be the Key to Cracking a 17th-Century Cold Case Smithsonian Magazine, 18 October 2016
  3. Lag ermordeter Graf 323 Jahre unterm Leineschloss Archived 2020-12-04 at the Wayback Machine Hannoversche Allgemeine, 26 August 2016 (in German)
  4. Skeleton Discovery Reignites 300-Year-Old Royal Murder Mystery National Geographic 11 November 2016

52°22′14″N9°44′01″E / 52.37056°N 9.73361°E / 52.37056; 9.73361