Wewelsburg
| Wewelsburg | |
|---|---|
Wewelsburg, seen from the Alme valley | |
| General information | |
| Type | Castle |
| Architectural style | Renaissance |
| Town or city | Wewelsburg |
| Country | Germany |
| Coordinates | 51°36′23″N 8°39′06″E / 51.60639°N 8.65167°E |
| Current tenants | Kreismuseum Wewelsburg, Youth hostel |
| Construction started | 1603 |
| Completed | 1609 |
| Renovated | 1650–1660 19th century 1930s/1940s 1948/1949 1973–1975 |
| Client | Dietrich von Fürstenberg |
| Owner | District of Paderborn |
Wewelsburg (German pronunciation: [ˈveːvl̩sbʊɐ̯k]) is a Renaissance castle located in the village of Wewelsburg, which is a district of the town of Büren, Westphalia, in the Landkreis of Paderborn in the northeast of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The castle has a triangular layout, with three round towers connected by massive walls. After 1934 it was used by the SS under Heinrich Himmler and was to be expanded into a complex which would serve as the central SS cult-site.
After 1941 plans were developed to enlarge it to be the so-called "Centre of the World". In 1950 the castle reopened as a museum and youth hostel. (The youth hostel is one of the largest in Germany.) The castle today hosts the Historical Museum of the Prince Bishopric of Paderborn and the Wewelsburg 1933–1945 Memorial Museum.