The dilapidated Marienburg Castle was supposed to open in Advent – but 6,000 “Maxton Hall” fans broke all boundaries. The place of worship now remains closed.
Marienburg Castle near Hanover is one of the filming locations for the drama series “Maxton Hall”. A planned Advent opening has now been canceled due to the massive number of fans – exceeding the possible capacities creates a security risk.
Fan rush despite renovation work
The original plan was to make the series’ dilapidated recording location accessible to visitors on two weekends in Advent. However, those in charge of the castle in the south of Hanover underestimated the impact that the Prime Video series “Maxton Hall” had on a predominantly young audience. The result: a planned opening of the dilapidated property had to be canceled. A previous unlocking of the castle doors led to thousands of fans storming the location – the organizers subsequently spoke of a security risk for people and the property.
Editorial recommendations
Some time ago, the Hanover Region, as the building supervisory authority, ordered the interior to be closed. Dry rot had previously been discovered in the roof structure. According to the foundation, the building inspectorate granted a special permit for the filming days of “Maxton Hall.” The renovation work on the property is expected to continue until 2030, as “Spiegel Panorama” reported.
Rush of visitors: 6,000 fans instead of 400 guests
On the weekend of November 22nd and 23rd, the gates of the residence – which is currently closed for renovation work – were opened for two days. The reason for this was the start of the second season – fans of the main actors Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and James Beaufort (Damian Hardung) stormed into the location in their thousands. Instead of the expected 400 guests, the venue was overrun by 6,000 fans of the series. The foundation’s board member, Mario Mathias Ohle, told the “Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung”: “We had not foreseen it to this extent.” Since the safety of visitors and the property cannot be guaranteed with such a rush, the decision was made against it after experience.
Hype on celebrity references is omnipresent
Back in October, the Swifties – fans of the singer and songwriter Taylor Swift – caused a rush of visitors to the Wiesbaden museum. The reason for this was a reference to a well-known painting by the artist in the music video “The Fate of Ophelia”.
ME author Katharina Moser wrote about it: “This image reference brought an unexpected rush of visitors to the Hessisches Landesmuseum in Wiesbaden: Last weekend (October 11th and 12th), the house welcomed hundreds of additional guests. The reason: an Art Nouveau painting of Ophelia, Hamlet’s lover from Shakespeare’s work of the same name, which is on display there. It became the target of countless Swifties, who portrayed Ophelia from Swift’s music video in the work believe to be recognizable.”