Memorial Sign to Peter in the Schloss Schwöbber (Schloss Schwöbber, Ananas)
Located in Lower Saxony, the Schwöbber Castle was built in the 1570s in the so called Weser Renaissance style. It is an architectural style that was common in the areas around the Weser River from the early 16th century until the mid-17th century, combining typical features of both the Italian and Northern Renaissance styles. The castle was famous for its gardens.
Between the 1510s and 1919, the Schwöbber estate was owned by the noble family of Münchhausen from Lower Saxony, from which sprung the famous storyteller Hieronymus Karl Friedrich von Münchhausen (1720–1797). The latter came to serve in Russia in 1737 and was appointed a cornet in the Brunswick-Cuirassiers regiment. In 1750, he was promoted to captain of cavalry, whereupon he left Russia for good.
While staying in Pyrmont (modern Bad Pyrmont) to receive treatment with waters from May 26 / June 7, 1716 to June 14 / 25, 1716, Peter I often traveled around the surrounding areas. The entry dated May 31 / June 11 in the Travel Journal notes the Tsar’s trip to the “village of Schwiebere”, where Peter had lunch, “ate pineapples”, and visited greenhouses cultivating exotic fruit.
To commemorate the royal visit, a memorial sign shaped as a pineapple in bronze on a stone pedestal and under an openwork gazebo was installed in the garden. The inscription in raised letters on the bronze plate reads, “ZAR / PETER DER GROSSE VON RUSSLAND / BESUCHTE / HIER / IM SOMMER 1716 / DIE ANANASKULTUREN / IN DEN SCHLOSSGÄRTEN / VON / SCHWÖBBER” (In the Summer of 1716, Russian Tsar Peter the Great visited the pineapple plantations in the gardens of the Schloss Schwöbber).
Today, the Schwöbber castle is a five-star hotel.
