Heidekastell Iserhatsche

Iserhatsche

There is no description for what you will find in the Iserhatsche: a work of art, an apartment, a museum, a temple - a madness.

Iserhatsche in Bispingen is a very special kind of hunting lodge and certainly one of the most bizarre sights in Lüneburg Heath. Not a heath park, not a bird park, not a Serengeti park. Iserhatsche is a mixture of vision and madness, created by Uwe Schulz Ebschbach. His business card states "master painter/visionary" as his job title.

Curious Gesamtkunstwerk in Bispingen

To say he is extroverted would be a gross understatement. His bronze bust stands in the castle's baroque garden - even during his lifetime. Directly in front of it is the Bell Tree, which was forged from iron and whose bells chime every hour on the hour. At 8 o'clock you can hear "Fox, you stole the goose", at 6 o'clock "Must I go out to the town". The melodies are played in the Diana Sanssouci Room of the hunting lodge, a hall decorated with gold leaf in which any Sun King would feel at home. A keyboard is built into a baroque table, which makes the bell tree ring.

By the way: if you get too close to the iron tree, a light barrier is triggered and tin butterflies start to flutter.

"There is no great genius without a dash of madness" is written somewhere in the garden. Or: "To be successful, you have to draw on your will." The whole of Iserhatsche is full of sayings, the landlord's philosophy of life in verse.

The world's largest beer collection

A few years ago, Schulz Ebschbach built a mountain with his son and his janitor. Montagnetto is the name of the hill, whose interior and exterior are just as flashy as the whole of Iserhatsche. Montagnetto is the mountain of the passion for collecting, and  Schulz-Ebschbach is a collector. For example, he collects hearses, large and small. Inside the mountain is also home to the largest beer collection in the world, with around 24,000 full bottles from 192 countries stored here. 

Volcanic eruption in the afternoon

In the distance, the bell tree tinkles the 1 p.m. anthem "Es klappert die Mühle am rauschenden Bach". Schulz-Ebschbach sends his apologies, outside visitors wait for the volcanic eruption. Please? Yes, the Montagnetto is a volcano. The master painter visionary stands on the shore of its artificial lake and fiddles with the remote control. Then the mountain actually spits fire. It's only a matter of time before an artificial tsunami is created here.

Noah's Ark in the Iserhatsche

But Schulz-Ebschbach has also made provisions for this eventuality: behind the Montagnetto, he has built a large Noah's Ark, which he uses to reach his private sleeping catacombs. Four hours of sleep - that's all he needs, otherwise he won't be able to achieve his visions.

For example, the castle in a bottle in the forest, built entirely from empties. Uwe Schulz-Ebschbach has also made provisions for the afterlife. His coffin is already in the hunting lodge. It is a seated coffin decorated with his likeness. Why sit? "I don't want to be sore later," is the plausible explanation.

Iserhatsche - that's the one with the clap? He's just wonderfully crazy. One of a kind. And you must have seen it. Honestly.