Bückeburg (;

Northern Low Saxon Northern Low Saxon (in Standard German, Standard High German: ', also ', lit. ''North(ern) Low Saxon/German''; in Dutch language, Standard Dutch: ') is a subgroup of Low Saxon dialects of Low German. As such, it covers a great part of the West ...

: ''Bückeborg'') is a town in

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

, Germany, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It is located in the district of Schaumburg close to the northern slopes of the Weserbergland ridge. Bückeburg has a population of 21,030.

History

Until the

German Revolution of 1918–1919 German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, Bückeburg was the capital of the tiny principality of Schaumburg-Lippe. Schaumburg-Lippe continued to be an independent German state ( Free state) until 1946. Houses began to gather around the castle and were protected by a city wall in the 17th century. In the 19th century, it was connected to the Minden and Hanover Railway and housed a

synagogue A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It is a place for prayer (the main sanctuary and sometimes smaller chapels) where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as wed ...

. The poet J. G. von Herder was court preacher here from 1771 to 1776. Bückeburg is a former British garrison town and had a number of British residents until recently. Most of the British residents worked at the British Military Hospital (BMH) in

Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river north of the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In ...

, or in the local English Prince Rupert School, also in

. The number of British military residents in Bückeburg decreased significantly in the late 1990s, when BMH Rinteln closed down, however the staff of Prince Rupert School were still based in Bückeburg until the closure of the school in July 2014.

Buildings

Bückeburg Palace

Bückeburg Palace ( ''Schloss Bückeburg'') was the residence of the Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe. Although the Princely family surrendered political power in 1918, they still own it and live there today. The palace, part of which is open to the public, is a major tourist attraction and houses significant works of art, as well as a notable library. The history of the building spans 700 years, with the most important contributions stemming from the 16th, 17th, and 19th centuries. File:Bückeburg in Stiftsfehde Bild 1591.jpg, Drawing of Bückeburg along the

Weser The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...

in 1520, during the Hildesheim Diocesan Feud. Drawing by Johannes Krabbe. File:Bückeburg, poort van Schloss Bückeburg foto10 2015-09-09 14.57.jpg, Entrance gate to the palace (16th century). File:Aerial image of Schloss Bückeburg (view from the southeast).jpg, Aerial view of Bückeburg Palace. On the left is the old Renaissance building, with a tower grouped around an inner courtyard. The neo-baroque extension consists of a wing on the right and two separate wing buildings in front. The old moat still runs around the complex, but without the former defensive ramps. File:Bueckeburg Schloss v O.JPG, The front facade of the palace. The Princely Mausoleum in the palace grounds is open to the public as well. Built in 1915 in Neo-Romanic style and resembling the Roman Pantheon, it is the world's largest private sepulchre still in use. The

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

is adorned by an impressive gold mosaic, the second largest of its kind after the one in the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (; ; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque (; ), is a mosque and former Church (building), church serving as a major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The last of three church buildings to be successively ...

. In the period around 1950 when the Royal Air Force had a base nearby, the children of the service families attended a school in the Schloss.

Helicopter Museum

Bückeburg is also home to a helicopter museum, which features the early drawings of flying objects by

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

as well as 40 actual helicopters. The

German Army The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...

's Army Aviators School using Bückeburg Air Base is located here.

Bückeburg Church

The Town Church of Bückeburg (''Bückeburger Stadtkirche'') was one of the first

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

churches built after the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

. It is known for its pulpit and especially for the ornately decorated bronze-cast font, made by the Dutch artist Adriaen de Vries. Composer Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732–1795), a son of J.S. Bach, worked at the Bückeburg court from before 1751 until his death, first as a

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

ist, then, from 1759, as Konzertmeister (director) of the Hofkapelle (court orchestra) there. Bach is buried in the churchyard of the Stadtkirchengemeinde-Bückeburg. Bach set several texts by

Johann Gottfried Herder Johann Gottfried von Herder ( ; ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a Prussian philosopher, theologian, pastor, poet, and literary critic. Herder is associated with the Age of Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism. He wa ...

, who was at the Bückeburg court as its superintendent and chief preacher from 1771–1776.

Climate

Transport

Bückeburg has a railway station and is served by line S1 of the Hanover S-Bahn. There are hourly train services between Bückeburg,

Minden Minden () is a middle-sized town in the very north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, the largest town in population between Bielefeld and Hanover. It is the capital of the district () of Minden-Lübbecke, situated in the cultural region ...

and

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

Notable people

* Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732–1795), composer, local harpsichordist and in 1759, concertmaster. * Thomas Abbt (1738–1766), writer and philosopher, Government and consistorial council, died locally *

(1744–1803), poet, theologian and philosopher, worked from 1771 to 1775 as the main preacher, superintendent and consistorial councilor in Bückeburg *

Friedrich Accum Friedrich Christian Accum or Frederick Accum (29 March 1769 – 28 June 1838) was a German chemist, whose most important achievements included advances in the field of gas lighting, efforts to keep processed foods free from dangerous additives, a ...

(1769–1838), chemist, worked on

gas lighting Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a fuel gas such as methane, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly by ...

* August von Herder (1776–1838), geologist and mineralogist * Iwan Müller (1786–1854), composer and instrument maker, died locally * Heinrich Strack (1805–1880), architect * Theodore Otto Langerfeldt (1841–1906), German-American architectural renderer, water-colourist, and painter. * Hermann Löns (1866–1914), journalist and writer, from 1907 to 1909 editor of the local newspaper * Wilhelm Külz (1875–1948), politician, local mayor from 1904 to 1912, lord mayor from 1909; national minister from 1926 *

Ernst Torgler Ernst Torgler (25 April 1893 – 19 January 1963) was the last chairman of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) faction in the German Reichstag before he worked for the Nazis. Early life Torgler was born the son of an urban resident in Berlin ...

(1893–1963), politician, from 1929 to 1933 KPD faction chairman; defendant in the

Reichstagsbrand The Reichstag fire (, ) was an arson attack on the Reichstag building, home of the German parliament in Berlin, on Monday, 27 February 1933, precisely four weeks after Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany. Marinus van der Lubbe, ...

process; worked locally from 1945 until 1948 in city admin. * Karl Lieffen (1926–1999), actor, trained at the local Army Music School * Hans Blum (1928-2024), pianist, bassist, composer, trained at the local Army Music School *

James Last James Last (, ; born Hans Last; 17 April 1929 – 9 June 2015) was a German composer and big band leader of the James Last Orchestra. Initially a jazz bassist, his trademark "happy music" made his numerous albums best-sellers in Germany and ...

(1929–2015), bassist, composer and bandleader, was trained at the local Army Music School * Horst Fischer (1930–1986), trumpeter, trained at the local Army Music School * Reinhold Kauder (born 1950), slalom canoeist, team silver medallist at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

Timo Maas Timo Maas (born July 27, 1969) is a German DJ/ producer and remixer. His remix of Azzido Da Bass's single " Dooms Night" helped launch his career in 2000. In its wake, he also released ''Music for the Maases Volume 1'', a mix album consisting ...

(born 1969), musician and

remixer A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

* Gernot Döllner (born 1969), engineer, business executive and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

AUDI AG Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the company ...

. * Robert Palikuča (born 1978), a Croatian football executive and former player, played over 270 games Hermine zu Schaumburg-Lippe

Aristocracy

* Friedrich Christian, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe (1655–1728), second ruler of the County of Schaumburg-Lippe. * Albrecht Wolfgang, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe (1699–1748), ruler of the County of Schaumburg-Lippe. * Georg Wilhelm, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1784–1860), a Count and later Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. * Louise Lehzen (1784–1870), from 1814 to 1842 the governess and later companion to Queen Victoria; lived from locally 1842 to 1870 * Viktor von Strauß und Torney (1809-1899), a princely minister, church poet and Ehrenbürger of Dresden. * Adolphus I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1817–1893), ruler of the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe. * Princess Adelheid of Schaumburg-Lippe (1821–1899), was a member of the House of Schaumburg-Lippe * Prince William of Schaumburg-Lippe (1834–1906), member of the

House of Lippe The House of Lippe () is the former reigning house of a number of small Germany, German states, two of which existed until the German Revolution of 1918–19, the Principality of Lippe and the Schaumburg-Lippe, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe. ...

. * Princess Hermine of Schaumburg-Lippe (1845–1930), member of the princely family of Schaumburg-Lippe * George, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1846–1911), ruler of the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe * Karl von Plettenberg (1852–1938), general of the infantry, lived in Bückeburg * Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe (1859–1916), prince of the House of Schaumburg-Lippe

Notes

References

* *

External links

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Schloss Bückeburg Helicopter Museum BückeburgObernkirchen Children's Choir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckeburg Towns in Lower Saxony Schaumburg Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe