Rittergut Bennigsen

Manor house

Portal to the manor

Coat of arms of the von Bennigsen family above the portal to the manor house

The Rittergut Bennigsen is a manor in Bennigsen, which has been the ancestral seat of the Lower Saxon noble family of Bennigsen for more than 700 years.^[1]

History

A moated castle on the estate was built in 1311 and served as the family’s residence ever since.^[1] Parts of the estate were destroyed during the Hildesheim Collegiate Feud, including the manor house, which was then rebuilt in 1566 as a half-timbered house with rich carving on the upper floor. Especially under Jacob Franz von Bennigsen (1654-1731) structural changes were made,^[2] however, the estate, which was always also used for agricultural purposes, and the manor buildings were repeatedly enlarged and altered until the 19th century.^[1]

During the time of the Kingdom of Hanover, the court architect Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves built the so-called “New Palace” in 1863;^[2] the villa served Rudolf von Bennigsen as a retirement residence in his old age. Von Bennigsen also had the park on the estate laid out;^[1] the area of around 4.5 hectares with its rare trees is now a nature conservation area.^[2]

In 1990, Roderic von Bennigsen took over the estate and transformed the property into a cultural venue. For example, he converted a smaller 17th-century hall and a large 18th-century barn into a concert venue with a stage for large philharmonic orchestras.^[1] In 1995, the cellist and conductor founded the Rittergut Bennigsen summer festival, at which renowned artists and internationally active orchestras have performed. In 2014 it took place for the seventeenth time.^[3]

Web links

Commons: Bennigsen manor– Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Bennigsen manor (court portal) in the monument atlas of Lower Saxony
• Bennigsen manor (manor house) in the monument atlas of Lower Saxony
• Roderic von Bennigsen (Responsible) 700 years manor Bennigsen on the page bennigsenfestival.de, last accessed on July 7, 2014
• Dirk Sarnes (Responsible) Bennigsen manor on the page hannover.de, last accessed on 7 July 2014

Individual references

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Roderic von Bennigsen (responsible): 700 years … (see under the Weblinks section)
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Dirk Sarnes (responsible): Manor … (see under the section Weblinks)
3. ↑ Roderic von Bennigsen: Biography, in: XVII Summer Festival Rittergut Bennigsen, accompanying brochure to the festival, Bennigsen: von Bennigsen, 2014, p. 2

52.2370289.669359Coordinates 52° 14′ 13.3″ N, 9° 40′ 9.7″ E