The palace is based on a medieval lowland castle that was built around 1100 by the
Counts of Oldenburg to control a long-distance trade route from
Westphalia to
East Frisia. The name of
Elimar I, Count of Oldenburg, was first mentioned in 1108, the building itself was explicitly mentioned for the first time in 1275, and a keep appears in a document in 1313. At that time, the individual buildings had to be founded on piles made of oak. Around 1400, under
Dietrich, Count of Oldenburg, the complex, which was laid out in the round, was given a ring moat with an outer wall and thus became a moated castle. Numerous residential and farm buildings were gathered in a small area, which around 1600 housed a court with around 350 people. In 1573 the castle was considered dilapidated and was therefore renovated bit by bit. The keep in the middle of the courtyard had already taken an inclined position in 1599 due to the muddy subsoil and was therefore demolished in 1608. At the beginning of the 17th century,
Anthony Günther, Count of Oldenburg (1583–1667) planned the conversion of the heavily nested buildings into a regular four-wing complex based on the model of Italian city palazzi. In 1607 master builder Anton Reinhardt started with the first masonry work. His successor in office from 1609 to 1615 was the architect Andrea Spezza (1580–c. 1628) from Arogno in Ticino, Switzerland. The sculptor Ludwig Münstermann (c. 1575-1638) was involved in the development of the Renaissance-style façade. However, the ambitious project came to a standstill at the latest at the beginning of the
Thirty Years' War for cost reasons. After Anthony Günther's death without a legitimate heir, most of his land fell into the hands of the elder line of the
House of Oldenburg, the
Danish royal family, who are direct male descendants of
Christian I, Count of Oldenburg, elected as King of Denmark in 1448. For more than a hundred years, the county was governed in
personal union with
Denmark. During this period, a Danish governor resided in the castle. The last remains of the medieval castle had to be removed in the 18th century due to dilapidation. On this occasion, most of the moat was also filled in. In 1744, the Danish government added a simple annexe for the state administration ("chancellery wing") to the core building of Count Anthony Günther. In 1773, the
Holstein-Gottorf branch of the House of Oldenburg took over control of the newly created
Duchy of Oldenburg until 1860. When the Gottorf dukes came to power, an extension with a ballroom appeared necessary for representative reasons. From 1817,
Peter I, Grand Duke of Oldenburg (1755–1829) had the interior of the palace modernized under the supervision of the neoclassical master builder Heinrich Carl Slevogt (1787–1832) and added a further wing for the court kitchen and library as well as two coach houses. This "library wing" burned down in 1913, but was immediately rebuilt in its old form. In 1894 the Danish "chancellery wing" had to be demolished due to dilapidation. In its place, architect Ludwig Freese (1859-1916) created a stylistic continuation of the Anthony Günther grand piano in the taste of
historicism based on a design by Ludwig Klingenberg (1840-1924). The core of this new building is the large palace hall in neo-Renaissance style with ceiling paintings by the Bremen painter Arthur Fitger (1840-1909). By 1894, the palace was the residence of the hereditary
Grand Duke Friedrich August (1852–1931). He abdicated as reigning Grand Duke during the
November Revolution of 1918 and moved to his country seat
Rastede Palace. In 1919–20 the palace was transformed into the
Landesmuseum Oldenburg (Museum of the State of Oldenburg) by the Government of the
State of Oldenburg. It was transferred to public ownership in 1923. ==See also==