Germany · 17th century
Plön Castle ranks #2,671 of 9,040 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #208 of the 714 mapped in Germany. Founded c. 1650, it is older than 25% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 710 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,088 times in the last 60 days, more than 84% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Germany compares in the castle statistics.
Plön Castle (German: Plöner Schloss) in Plön is one of the largest castles in the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein and the only one located on a hill. The former Residenz of the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Plön was built in the 17th century during the Thirty Years War and has had a colourful history in which it has, for example, been a school for military cadets and also a boarding school.
The castle ended the twentieth century as a possession of the state of Schleswig-Holstein, but they could not fund its renovation and so it had to be sold again. Since January 2002 it has belonged to the Fielmann Akademie Schloss Plön and, after extensive conversion, serves as a training and qualification centre for a branch of optometry. After being inaccessible to the general public for many years when it was a boarding school, its new owners have opened it to a limited extent to visitors.
Text adapted from “Plön Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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