Storkow Castle (Mark)

Storkow Castle, which is over 800 years old, looks back on an eventful history that visitors can learn about and experience on guided tours, for example. Today, as a modern cultural and event venue, it offers a varied experience. Spread over three floors, visitors can discover many secrets at their own pace.

ROOTS – Floor-based exhibits between origins and the future

With multimedia installations, interactive elements and an extraordinary interior design, the new, accessible permanent exhibition at Storkow Castle invites visitors on a fascinating journey of discovery.

Spread across three floors, stations such as the ‘Glacier Tunnel’, the ‘Soil Laboratory’ and the ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ bring geological, ecological and cultural connections to life. The new exhibition turns the soil into a storyteller and opens up a completely new perspective on the history of the region between the Oder, Dahme and Spree rivers, as well as on the unique features of the Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park.

In the Glacier Cave, visitors are immersed in the Ice Age. In the Soil Laboratory, they become researchers and unravel the secrets beneath their feet. Soil samples can be examined under microscopes, and hands-on experiments bring home the importance of the soil for today’s habitats. Digital displays and media stations clearly explain how the soil changed during the Ice Age and what role it plays for flora and fauna today.

On the ground floor, the journey of discovery continues in the ‘favourite spots’, which showcase the Dahme-Heideseen Nature Park in all its diversity. Visitors can explore different habitats such as dry grasslands, dunes and moors in walk-in display areas. Here, there are stations where visitors can feel, hear and experience different types of soil. This interactive exhibition vividly demonstrates how the soil shapes life within ecosystems and which animals and plants can be found in the various landscapes.

On the upper floor, the history of the region and the development of Storkow come to life. In this part of the exhibition, visitors will find multimedia stations that recount fascinating stories from the area’s settlement history.

The short film, in which Storkow tour guides portray historical figures such as the first settlers, Old Fritz or Mayor Tschech, brings history to life in an entertaining way.

A highlight is the new exhibition area on the history of the castle, where 3D models show the castle’s different appearances over the centuries for the first time.

Temporary exhibitions can be viewed on the light-filled gallery platform.

Guided tours of Storkow

Anyone strolling through Storkow (Mark) will quickly sense that this town, nestled between lakes, forests and wide-open landscapes, has a wealth of stories to tell. Cobblestone streets, narrow lanes and the view of the venerable Storkow Castle make it clear that history is alive here.

A large part of this is down to the tour guide Lutz Werner, known to many as ‘Green Lutz’, ‘Old Fritz’ or the dapper gentleman in a frock coat. Above all, however, he is one thing: a passionate storyteller who knows his home region like no other.

At the heart of many of his tours is Storkow Castle, which today serves as a modern cultural and event venue featuring exhibitions, a nature park centre, a library and a visitor information centre.

Here, Lutz Werner guides his guests through the castle walls, hidden corners and centuries of eventful history. Dressed in historical costume, he slips into various roles, sometimes as the Prussian King Frederick II of Prussia, sometimes as a dapper gentleman in a frock coat.

For him, the castle is not merely a backdrop, but a living history book with hidden corners and favourite spots

Families and school groups in particular love his programmes: children become little knights, practise crossbow shooting, playfully cross swords and receive their certificate upon being knighted.

But adults also get their money’s worth with talks, town walks or themed cycle tours around Lake Storkow or the Groß Schauen lake chain.

It is no coincidence that storytelling comes so easily to him: Lutz Werner grew up in Storkow. Every alleyway, every corner of the town is linked for him with memories, anecdotes and stories. He conveys with passion what Storkow once was and what it is today.

In doing so, he constantly reinvents himself and his formats, and regularly organises special tours and guided walks in collaboration with his colleagues.

In addition to his annual programme, castle and town tours take place every second Saturday at 11 am, offering both visitors and locals an in-depth and engaging insight into the history of Storkow.

Another special guided experience awaits visitors with the ‘Companions of the Night’, who invite people to a grand evening tour once a month from April to October. Together with the night watchman, they wander through the alleys of the small town in the Mark and bring the Middle Ages to life by torchlight. In an entertaining way, they convey old traditions and historical events from Storkow. Ballads about former mayors and humorous scenes alternate with thoughtful stories about the life of deprivation in times gone by.

Whether in daylight with ‘Green Lutz’ or by lantern light with the ‘Companions of the Night’, visitors to Storkow experience not only beautiful natural surroundings but also a town steeped in history and stories.

With people like Lutz Werner or the Companions of the Night, these stories become audible, visible and tangible, and remain in the memory for a long time to come.