Herrenhäuser Gärten

In 1692, after several additions, the garden was inaugurated by Ernst August, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg. With its 200 hectares the garden in 1710 was about the same size as the inner city of Hanover where 10,000 people lived. Electress Sophia van de Palts, who spent her childhood in the Netherlands, had the garden redesigned in the style of Dutch Baroque.

From 1819 to 1821 the castle and orangery were renovated. The garden fell into obscurity because the owners at that time resided in London and no longer cared about their Hanoverian garden. Thus the Große Garten escaped the general trend of transforming Baroque gardens into landscape gardens. After having served as a royal residence of George V of Hanover for a short period of time, the domain no longer had any social significance due to the annexation of Hanover to Prussia in 1866 and was further neglected.

The city of Hanover bought the domain in 1936 and had it modified several times. Eight special gardens were created, including an octagonal maze (Irrgarten), based on a 17th-century plan. During an air raid in 1943, the castle was destroyed and it would take until 2011 before it was rebuilt on the same site. A special feature is the redesign of the Grotte with mirror mosaics, carried out in 2003 by Niki de Saint Phalle associates.

Today Herrenhäuser Gärten is one of the most beautiful historic gardens in Europe which attracts many hundreds of thousands of visitors every year who enjoy the imposing garden in the style of bygone days.