by Bunko Dolus, The Chicago Times
BRUNSWICK, SAXONY – Brunswick Palace to reconstruct the lost Ducal Brunswick Bowling Alley in south wing to promote the sport influenced by the Dukes of Brunswick.
Rebuilt several times over the last 200 years, Brunswick Palace once held the most gilded bowling alley in lower Saxony, if not of all of Germany. First designed in 1718, rebuilt in 1840-41, only to be destroyed again in WWII; the palace would serve as the Ducal seat of Brunswick and would foster a royal influence in the growing sport of bowling that would extend into America after the abolition of the German monarchy in 1918.
After the palace was destroyed in WWII by Allied bombing in WWII the Brunswick City Council voted to demolish the palace in 1960 in favor of using the land as a city park. Lost to history, the Brunswick City Council voted not to reconstruct the gilded bowling alley in another location because of ties with Nazi officials in the 1930s.
In 2004, the city council passed a resolution to reconstruct the palace façade with additional structures to include a museum and shopping center. Still haunted by the past, city planners omitted the lost gilded bowling alley and, at the time, declined comment.
Today, the palace serves as a museum and city park. The reconstruction of the famous Ducal Brunswick Bowling Alley within the palace is one of the last pieces in the recreation of Carl Theodor Ottmer’s original 1841 design of Brunswick Palace. Local resident, Ernst Günther, said: “Ja, we should not be ashamed of a beautiful gilded bowling alley because it was commandeered by villains in the past.”
The Chicago Times 