Country : Germany
Date : 18TH JUNE 2018
A BIT OF HISTORY ON OLDENBURG
Archaeological finds point to a settlement dating back to the 8th century!
The first documentary evidence, in 1108, referenced Aldenburg in connection with Elimar I (also known as Egilmar I) who is now commonly seen as the first count of Oldenburg. The town gained importance due to its location at a ford of the navigable Hunte river. Oldenburg became the capital of the County of Oldenburg (later a Duchy (1774- 1810), Grand Duchy (1815–1918), and Free State (1918–1946)), a small state in the shadow of the much more powerful Hanseatic city of Bremen.
In the 17th century Oldenburg was a wealthy town in a time of war and turmoil and its population and power grew considerably. In 1667, the town was struck by a disastrous plague epidemic and, shortly after, a fire destroyed Oldenburg. The Danish kings, who were also counts of Oldenburg at the time, had little interest in the condition of the town and it lost most of its former importance. In 1773, Danish rule ended. Only then were the destroyed buildings in the city rebuilt in a neoclassicist style. (German-speakers usually call the “neoclassicist style” of that period klassizistisch, while neoklassizistisch specifically refers to the classicist style of the early 20th century.)
After the German government announced the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II (9 November 1918) following the exhaustion and defeat of the German Empire in World War I, monarchic rule ended in Oldenburg as well with the abdication of Grand Duke Frederick Augustus II of Oldenburg (Friedrich August II von Oldenburg) on 11 November 1918. The Grand Duchy now became the Free State of Oldenburg (German: Freistaat Oldenburg), with the city remaining the capital.
In the 1928 city elections, the Nazi Party received 9.8% of the vote, enough for a seat on the Oldenburg city council. In the September 1930 Oldenburg state elections, the Nazi Party’s share of the vote rose to 27.3%, and on May 29, 1932, the Nazi Party received 48.4% in the state election, enough to put the Nazi party in charge of forming a state government and, significantly, making Oldenburg the first state in the country to put the Nazis in power based on electoral turnout. By that autumn, a campaign of Aryanization began, forcing the sale of formerly Jewish-owned properties at steep discounts.
In 1945, after World War II, the State of Oldenburg became part of the British zone of occupation. The British military government of the Oldenburg region resided in the city. Several displaced-persons camps were set up in the city that had suffered only 1.4% destruction during the bombing campaigns of World War II.
About 42,000 refugees migrated into Oldenburg, which raised the number of residents to over 100,000. In 1946 the Free State of Oldenburg was dissolved and the area became the ‘Administrative District’ of Oldenburg (Verwaltungsbezirk Oldenburg) within the newly-formed federal German state of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen). The city was now capital of the district. In 1978 the district was dissolved and succeeded by the newly formed Weser-Ems administrative region (Regierungsbezirk Weser-Ems), again with the city as administrative capital. The state of Lower Saxony dissolved all of the Regierungsbezirke by the end of 2004 in the course of administrative reforms.
PARKING SPOT
We parked on the outskirts of the city and walked in around 15-20mins as there was no where we could park the van, plus this place was nice and empty
Red circle is where we parked the van – mum stayed in the van and had a rest while Dad and I walked to Oldenburg old town for a quick explore
The Castle Plaza in the city centre
The white building is the Alte Schlosswache which is like a castle guard, cavalier house and stables set around the Castle Plaza, built in 1893, the military guard and the changing of the guard was very traditional in Oldenburg until the abdication of the Grand Duke in 1918, after this it became a city police station
The old town was quite small and not that interesting as the other towns in Germany. In comparison it was more around shopping than historical buildings, I wasnt too impressed
The Oldenberg Rathaus was a beautiful building with so much delicate details all around the facade of the building, I loved the unique colours of the gold on the outside with the turquoise trimmings
The Schloss is the former residence of the counts (1667–1785), dukes (1785–1815) and grand dukes (1815–1918) of Oldenburg.
In 1607–1667, the present palace served as the residence of Anthony Günther, Count of Oldenburg (1583–1667). After his death without a legitimate heir, most of his land fell into the hands of the Danish royal family for more than a hundred years.
The building is now part of the State Museum ofor Art and Cultural History
I absolutely loved the details on the outside of the building, such love and care went into creating these
The inside of the Schloss is just as grand as the outside if not nicer!
The inside has a very modern look and feel to it which doesnt really go with the beautiful Romanesque style on the outside
St. Lambert’s Church (German: St Lamberti-Kirche) is the main Evangelical Lutheran church
he church dates from the 13th century and was renovated in the 19th century. It was originally built as a Romanesque hall between 1155 ad 1234.
We werent in Oldenburg for too long, it was a quick exploration and it was just that, I do wish i had more time to look further out of the Old Town to get to know the outskirts but walking from the Van car park will have to do!
To be honest, I wouldnt come here again after this visit, the town was very industrial and I didnt get a good historical feel to it like some of the other Germans towns Ive been to, so for that reason, a no return here for me and I wouldnt recommend as there are too many other quaint places to visit, in my opinion – still nice though!
The Wandering Passport 