Celle

Celle stands where the Fuhse meets the Aller, on a sandy rise in a river valley crossed by trading roads. In 1292 Duke Otto the Strict moved the settlement and his castle downstream from older Celle to this site. The new town gained a church and a fortified ducal seat, while the navigable Aller connected it to the Weser.

During the Lüneburg War of Succession the dukes increasingly used Celle as a residence. From 1433 it became the permanent court of the Welf principality of Lüneburg. The castle was enlarged with halls and a chapel to accommodate the court, and the town's timber-framed houses grew around it. Celle remained a centre of princely government until the local line died out in 1705. The end of the resident court changed the town's fortunes, although the castle continued to receive distinguished occupants. Caroline Matilda, the exiled queen of Denmark, lived at Celle from 1772 until her death in 1775. Its palace and church preserve the memory of the rulers who made this river town their home.