Meyenburg can be explored from several distinct perspectives: the city’s history stretches from the first documented mention of the town and castle as “Meyenborch” to surviving sections of the former town wall. The palace park tells a story of landscape design and restoration; museums complement these topics with the history of the von Rohr noble family and the history of the Prignitz region in the 20th century. When choosing a destination, you can consider whether architectural history, museum topics or the development of a designed landscape matters most to you.
Documents, Town Wall and Church Tower
Meyenburg was founded at the beginning of the 13th century on the upper reaches of the Stepenitz. The town and castle were first mentioned in a document in 1285 under the name “Meyenborch.” The founding and the first written record are therefore two distinct milestones in the town’s history. Three separate sections of the former town wall still survive. The Evangelical Church of Meyenburg has a free-standing neo-Gothic brick tower, built in 1848/50. While the church tower’s architecture can be placed in context by its style, materials and construction date, the wall sections are individual surviving parts of the former town wall.
Museums with a Local and Regional Perspective
At the Fashion Museum & Meyenburg Castle Museum, visitors can learn about the von Rohr noble family and the town’s history. The history of the Prignitz region in the 20th century is also at the heart of the Meyenburg Castle Museum; the life of a Prignitz resident runs like a thread through the exhibition. For choosing a trip, this shift in scale is interesting: one museum focuses on family and town history, the other on the history of an entire region in the 20th century.
The Palace Park: Design and Restoration
Around 1860, Meyenburg Palace Park was redesigned as an extensive English-style landscape park, based on plans by court gardener Fink. At the time, the grounds covered 30 Morgen, including a kitchen garden with greenhouses. The palace park features groups of trees and shrubs, winding paths, ponds and lawns, as well as individual tall deciduous trees. The park’s design thus combines different elements of a designed landscape, from the layout of the paths and open spaces to the individually planted trees.
Another chapter in the park’s history is its restoration and redesign based on a plan by garden architect Reinhard Schweizer, modeled on its original appearance. As part of this redesign, park paths were laid out anew, benches were installed and the ponds were cleared. Fink and Schweizer therefore represent different stages: the transformation into an English landscape park around 1860, and the restoration based on a concept that took the original appearance as its guide.
Views, Guided Tour and Cycle Route
The Hunger Tower is open to visitors as part of the local history museum and offers a panoramic view. Check the current visiting arrangements before your visit. On the last Sunday of each month, Josefine Edle von Krepl leads a tour of the permanent exhibition at Meyenburg Castle’s Fashion Museum. For this regular program, too, it is advisable to check the current arrangements before your visit.
Meyenburg is connected to the Elbe–Müritz Circular Route, a long-distance cycle route. If you plan to include a cycling tour in your trip, check the latest route information in advance.
Discover more destinations: Lenzerwische, Plattenburg, Halenbeck-Rohlsdorf, Lenzen, Groß Pankow, Rühstädt, Bad Wilsnack/Weisen, Mansfeld
To the regional travel overview: Prignitz.
