Latvia · Restored
Lielstraupe Castle
Lielstraupe Castle (Gross-Roop) is a two-winged castle complex in Straupe Parish, Vidzeme, Latvia, built from a medieval tower core and remodelled in the Baroque era. The complex surrounds an inner courtyard, includes a square tower with a Baroque hood and an attached former castle church, and stands beside parkland and dammed ponds on the Brasla river. It was remodelled under Count Peter von Lacy and reached its Baroque form in the mid-18th century.
Its prime
1743
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1743
What Lielstraupe Castle looked like in its prime.
Two wings meet at almost right angles to enclose an inner courtyard; masonry is mostly brick, plastered in yellow and white, with red clay tile roofs and hipped forms. Where the wings join rises an almost square medieval tower (approx. 9 × 9.45 m) topped by a curved Baroque hood with an open lantern, four clock faces and a weather vane dated 1743. The southern residential wing bears a blown-up/curved gable akin to Riga cathedral, the long northeast wing contains the main gate with a coat of arms, and the eastern range adjoins a former Gothic castle church with high pointed-arch windows. The site sits beside parkland with ponds and remnants of a ring wall.
Its story
The story of Lielstraupe Castle.
Lielstraupe Castle — Gross-Roop in German — was originally built in the 13th century by the von Rosen family, an old Livonian noble house that ranked among the most influential vassals of the Archbishop of Riga. A Rosen castle at Roop is first mentioned in writing in 1310, when it was besieged by Lithuanians, and the village of Straupe began to develop around it in the 14th century.
In 1529 the complex was purchased by a line of the House of Hochrosen; in 1629 it was sold for 3,100 speciestaler to Elisabeth, widow of Jürgen von Albedyll, and in 1704 the von Stackelberg family followed the Albedylls as lords of the castle — acquiring a complex already restored twice after a severe fire in 1684. Count Peter von Lacy then rebuilt the war-damaged castle in Baroque style by 1743, the year still shown on the tower's weathervane, and remodelled the castle church to its present form.
In 1780 Gross-Roop was sold to Lacy's nephew Georg Graf Browne, Governor General of Livonia, and later came to the Counts of Solms and Tecklenburg. The two-winged complex, its square tower topped by a Baroque hood and open lantern, eventually returned to the Rosens and remained inhabited until it was expropriated from Hans von Rosen in 1939.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1743.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Lielstraupe Castle — including 2 interiors: knights' hall (ground floor), castle church interior — choir and pulpit. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Lielstraupe Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1743 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Lielstraupe Castle.
The families that held Lielstraupe Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Rosen
Built by the von Rosen family in the 13th century; expropriated from Hans von Rosen in 1939.
Albedyll
Bought in 1629 by Elisabeth, widow of Jürgen von Albedyll; the family held it until 1704.
Stackelberg
Lords of the castle from 1704.
Lacy
Count Peter von Lacy rebuilt the damaged castle in Baroque style by 1743.
Sold in 1780 to Georg Graf Browne, Governor General of Livonia.
