Niedersachsen had its fairy tale king, though he was only a duke. Duke Anton Ulrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1633-1714), whose 300th death anniversary we commemorate this year and to whom we owe one of the largest art collections in Germany, was fiercely determined to transform his small duchy into a wonderland of the arts.

Hans Pleschinski tells a fantastic tale about the monarch, poet, festival organizer, financial juggler, art buyer, and patron, whose dream of his own Versailles culminated in the construction of the wondrous castle of Salzdahlum, which unfortunately was doomed to a swift demise like a Titanic on land. The captivating story of a megalomaniac and the memory of another festive, generous, and beauty-drunk German mentality has been reviewed and revised by Hans Pleschinski for this edition.