Wilhelmstein Island on Lake Steinhude

In the middle of Lake Steinhude, there is a small artificial island built by Count Wilhelm Schaumburg-Lippe in 1761. It is a square with a side of 120 metres.

On the island there is a fortification, now it is quite small, but at the end of the 18th century the whole island was a fortress, built in a typical for that time star-shaped bastion system. It is not clear how a fortress on an island in the middle of a huge lake was supposed to defend a small county of 17,000 people on the mainland. Rather, it was a shelter where the count could take refuge during an attack.


To build the island, the people of the county brought 30 cubic metres of sand, gravel and stone every day for 5 consecutive years. In summer by boat and in winter by sledge.  In case of war, it could accommodate 800 soldiers and 166 cannons. Though it's hard for me to imagine how they could fit here. There was also a regular garrison of 250 men, which was constantly decreasing due to austerity and amounted to only 22 men in 1782.

There always had to be a considerable supply of food on the island, not only because of the danger of war, but also because in winter and spring the island could be cut off from the mainland, in the weeks when the ice had not yet hardened.

After the construction was completed, the Count organised a military school with free tuition in addition to the fortress. After Count Wilhelm died in 1777 and the military school moved to Bückeburg in 1787, the fortress island lost its importance and became a prison. It was thought that because of the location, escape from here was impossible, though it is still not Alcatraz, but a calm lake. A few cases of escape over the ice have occurred.

Tourist visits to the island began as soon as construction was completed, although at first it was only nobles. The tourist flow increased considerably after the closure of the prison in 1867, especially since Lake Steinhude had already become a large holiday resort.

Nevertheless, the island survived one major siege. In 1787, the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel laid claim to the county of Schaumburg-Lippe and occupied it. About 150 people took refuge in the fortress and 2800 Hesse soldiers could not take it. Later the Kingdom of Hanover came to the rescue and Hesse retreated.


The fortress still belongs to the house of Schaumburg-Lippe, there is a museum inside and a tourist renovation was carried out between 2005 and 2009.


You can get to the island by pleasure boats or small open yachts from Steinhude and Mardorf, find here the timetables and ticket prices. We travelled from Steinhude on the first boat at 10am.






Keep in mind that the island is small, there's not much to do besides walk around, visit the museum and climb the tower.














However, we didn't plan to visit the museum, instead we organised a picnic. There is a restaurant on the island that even offers picnic kits (https://inselresort-wilhelmstein.de/picknick), but we brought our own food. There are tables like this.


We had a picnic mat and sat on the grass near the water. This island is very suitable for the picnic in good weather, we recommend it.