ceased to be a Benedictine abbey and was raised by pope Pius VI to the status of a prince-bishopric. (abbot/bishop 1776–94) and (bishop 1794–1825, also bishop of Munster 1821–1825) were the last ecclesial princes at Corvey. In 1803, the Prince-Bishopric of Corvey was secularized under Napoleonic administration and became briefly part of the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda. In 1807, it went to Jérôme Bonaparte's Kingdom of Westphalia. After the Congress of Vienna, Corvey fell to Prussia in 1815. As compensation for lost territory west of the Rhine, it was awarded to Victor Amadeus, the Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg, in 1820. While Corvey had ceased to exist as a political state in 1803, it continued to exist as a diocese until 1825. Schloss Corvey Landgrave Victor Amadeus rebuilt the abbey buildings as a Schloss (palace). In 1834, the property fell to Victor von Hohenlohe-Schillingfürst, a member of the House of Hohenlohe. In 1840, he was granted the title Herzog von Ratibor und Fürst von Corvey (Duke of Ratibor and Prince of Corvey) by King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Since then, Schloss Corvey has remained property of the family. Library The famous abbey library has long since been dispersed, but the "princely library" (Fürstliche Bibliothek), an aristocratic family library, containing about 74,000 volumes, mainly in German, French, and English, with a tailing off circa 1834, survives in the Schloss. One striking feature of the collection is the large number of English Romantic novels, some in unique copies, for in Britain fiction was more often borrowed than bought, and was read extensively in the lending libraries. The poet and author of the Deutschlandlied, August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, worked here as librarian from 1860 until his death in 1874. He is buried in the church graveyard. Today The present owner of the palace is Viktor, 5th Duke of Ratibor and 5th Prince of Corvey, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst-Metternich-Sándor (b. 1964). The palace, library, and church are today open to the public. Bibliography Also . Proceedings of a conference on the theme "Die karolingischen Stuckfiguren im Westwerk von Corvey : zur Frage ihrer Deutung [Carolingian stucco figures in the westwork of Corvey: on questions about their meaning]", held Nov. 1–3, 1996 at the Institut für Kunstgeschichte [Institute of art history], University of Münster. Notes Further reading External links Carolingian Westwork and Civitas Corvey : UNESCO Official Website Website of Schloss Corvey Corvey, Nordrhein-Westfalen – Photo gallery