Kyffhausen Castle
| Kyffhausen Castle | ||
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 Barbarossaturm in the upper castle around 1900 |
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| Geographical location | 51 ° 24 '46 " N , 11 ° 6' 30" E | |
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The Reichsburg Kyffhausen is a medieval castle ruin in the Kyffhäuser Mountains at 439.7 m above sea level. NN high Kyffhäuserburgberg in the Steinthaleben district of the community Kyffhäuserland not far from the city of Bad Frankenhausen in the Kyffhäuserkreis , Thuringia , near the border to the part of Saxony-Anhalt, which is also Thuringian .
The Reichsburg consists of three individual medieval fortifications separated from one another by section trenches. These castles are called Upper, Middle and Lower Castle . With a length of over 600 meters and a width of around 60 meters, they together form one of the largest castle complexes in Germany . Together with the castle museum and the Kyffhäuser monument located in the castle grounds , the castle is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Germany, which is particularly well known for the Barbarossa or Kyffhäuser sagas .
Geographical location
The ruins of Kyffhausen Castle is located in the Kyffhäuser Mountains in nature park Kyffhäuser - about 300 meters south of the park's northern border. It is located on the Kyffhäuserburgberg ( 439.7 m above sea level ), an approximately 800 m long eastern foothills of the mountains about 3 km northeast of the Steinthaleben district of Rathsfeld in the Thuringian Kyffhäuserkreis and south of Sittendorf and southwest of Tilleda , which leads to the town of Kelbra ( Mansfeld-Südharz district , the Thúringian part of Saxony-Anhalt). The difference in altitude between the Kyffhäuserburgberg (439.7 m above sea level) and the Goldenen Aue (approx. 160 m above sea level ) is about 280 m.
From the castle complex and especially the monument you have a wide view in northwest to northeast direction over the Goldene Aue, the southern Harz Mountains behind, with Ravensberg, Stöberhai, Poppenberg, Auersberg, and the higher Wurmberg and Brocken towering behind these mountains. In the east you can see the Ziegelroda Forest with the wind turbines of the Querfurter Platte towering behind it and sometimes the towering clouds of smoke from the Teutschenthal and Schkopau power plants. In the south, the deep incision of the Wolweda valley extends beyond it
History of the castles
Settlement of the mountain in prehistoric times
The settlement of the castle hill, which slopes steeply to the south, east and north, may have started as early as the Neolithic , according to archaeological finds , but the recovered stone tools, so-called shoe last wedges , could not have been brought here until medieval times as a means of defense against lightning strikes . Ceramic and metal finds from the Bronze Age presumably come from destroyed burial mounds on the mountain spur that can be seen from afar . In several excavation cuts in the upper castle in 1937/38 the remains of a fortification from the earlier Iron Age ( Hallstatt D - Latène A (B) / " Thuringian culture " of the 6th / 5th century BC) were found. A dry stone wall ran further down the valley than the medieval walls. According to the prehistoric settlement remains, the populated area stretched far down the slope. From the up to half a meter thick cultural layer with numerous ceramic finds also comes the find of a layer of burned grain . Such a find is usually interpreted as a remnant of cultic acts. However, this interpretation is not clearly secured.
Beginning of the medieval castle until it was first destroyed in 1118
The beginnings of the castle are largely unclear, as the written sources about the castle start late and are generally sparse. Its construction will undoubtedly be closely related to the administration and protection of the extensive imperial property in the southern Harz foreland and the Golden Aue and the protection of the Palatinate Tilleda , which is only two kilometers away .
For the year 1118 the destruction of the castrum… Cuphese by the Saxon Duke Lothar von Supplinburg is reported in the written sources . The castle, defended by a royal garrison, was taken in the course of the clashes between Saxon princes and the Roman Emperor and German King Heinrich V after his defeat in the Battle of Welfesholz in 1115. The message is also the first written mention of the castle. Its construction is likely to have taken place as early as the 11th century during the reign of the German King Heinrich IV , and in the area of the upper castle, according to the finds, possibly even in the late 10th century.
Kyffhausen as a Hohenstaufen imperial castle
After the destruction in 1118, which was also evident in a layer of fire found during the excavations in several places in the lower castle, a rapid and extensive reconstruction probably took place during the reign of King Lothar of Supplinburg , which was completed under Frederick I Barbarossa. Whether Barbarossa stayed in the Palatinate Tilleda like in 1174 at the Imperial Castle Kyffhausen can only be guessed. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the three castles, which followed one another, reached the height of their importance. This is documented on the one hand in the number and quality of the buildings erected during this period and on the other hand in the numerous and high-quality metal finds such as gold-plated bronze and copper objects from the upper castle, which apparently served as a core or main castle. However, no more rulers' stays at this time are documented. In the sources, only imperial ministers like the later Lords of Mildenstein are named for the middle of the 12th century to the first half of the 13th century , who administered the castle and the table goods.
Already through the use of the conglomerate layers leading Kyffhäuser- sandstone pale red appearing walls had in the Staufer period also red-colored at least twice Putzschlämme received. After such thin plasters had already been observed in the investigations in the 1930s on the ring walls of the upper and lower castle, they could be detected again in 1995 and now also on other buildings in the castle area, in particular the castle chapel of the lower castle. The color red , which also distinguished other imperial castles and buildings of Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa, such as the Augustinian Canons' Monastery in Altenburg , the so-called " red lace ", had a special symbolic meaning. It was intended to signal the imperial builders and will have enormously increased the visual impact of the castle on the unforested, cleared ridge.
The castle in the late Middle Ages
As early as the end of the 13th century, the castle lost its strategic importance for the monarchy and experienced multiple changes of ownership in the period that followed. After the Count of Rothenburg as owner of Castle County extinct, rendered King Rudolf von Habsburg Count Frederick V of Beichlingen the office of the royal burgrave. In 1375 the counts of had Beichlingen the Kyffhausen of the Thuringian Landgrave from the House of Wettin to feudal take. But as early as 1378, the Landgrave of Thuringia pledged the castles of Rothenburg and Kyffhausen for 970 marks to the Counts of Schwarzburg . Despite the agreed right of repurchase, both castles no longer came into the possession of the Landgraves of Thuringia. In 1407 the Counts of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt received the fiefdom of the castle and thus replaced the Counts of Beichlingen.
In the Duringian Chronicle of Johannes Rothe († 1434) Kyffhausen is referred to as "wustes sloz" . Only in the lower castle was the chapel restored and consecrated in 1433 as a pilgrimage chapel "To the Holy Cross". In addition to the construction itself, several burials and the finds of pilgrim signs testify to this . With the Reformation at the latest , this regional pilgrimage center also lost its importance, and the mountain was only used by a quarry that had been in operation since the 15th century until the Kyffhäuser monument was built.
Use of the site in modern times
In connection with the further spread of the Barbarossa saga z. B. in a popular booklet published in 1519 there is the repeated appearance of so-called "false Friedriche". The best known is the appearance of a tailor from Langensalza in 1546, who posed as Emperor Friedrich and "resided" in the ruins of the castle.
Already in the Classical Age , but even more so in the Romantic period , the ruins developed into a tourist attraction. In 1776 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Duke Carl August von Sachsen-Weimar hiked on the Kyffhäuser. In the early 19th century, the Kyffhauser also became a symbol of the striving for freedom and the creation of a German nation-state . In 1817 Friedrich Rückert published his poem “The old Barbarossa”, which became part of the school's general property and with which the Kyffhäuser gained even more fame. Fraternity meetings took place at the ruins of the castle between 1846 and 1848 . With the construction of the Kyffhäuser monument from 1890–1898 on the upper castle, the remains of the castle were largely destroyed.
Until the November Revolution in Germany in 1918, the Reichsburg Kyffhausen belonged to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , then to the Free State of Thuringia .
Archaeological excavations 1934 to 1938
In 1934, the German Reichskriegerbund ( Kyffhäuserbund ), as the owner of the site, began to expose and preserve the parts of the medieval Reichsburg Kyffhausen that remained undamaged during the construction of the Kyffhauser monument in order to make them accessible to the public. In connection with this, archaeological excavations in the lower (1934–1936) and in the upper castle (1937–1938) were necessary, which were carried out under the direction of the state shop steward for the prehistoric and early historical soil antiquities of Thuringia, Prof. Dr. Gotthard Neumann and his assistants from the Germanic Museum of the University of Jena . The excavation work, completed in 1938, was carried out with the help of the Reich Labor Service and numerous volunteers and was carried out under great time pressure. Reductions in the scientific quality of the excavations were therefore inevitable, but these excavations nonetheless yielded essential knowledge about the building development and equipment of the castles in the Middle Ages.
In the course of the excavations, there were considerable differences with representatives of the Reich Warrior Association in the interpretation of the prehistoric remains of fortifications and settlements that had been discovered . In addition, Heinrich Himmler and the “ Forschungsgemeinschaft Deutsches Ahnenerbe e. V. “increasingly to influence the investigations. While the prehistoric and early historical finds and findings were presented in detail by the excavators in 1940, the archaeological processing of the medieval building history and the submission of the numerous and in some cases outstanding medieval finds are still pending.
The castle in the second half of the 20th century until today
After the uncovering in the 1930s, the ruins were secured and partially rebuilt. At the end of the Second World War , there were allegedly plans to blow up the monument, which would have severely damaged the castle ruins. In connection with the once again increased tourist use, constant security work took place on the ruins and the memorial during the GDR era, which has been reinforced again since 1990. In connection with this, smaller excavations and emergency rescues as well as building research, especially at the Barbarossa Tower, have been carried out in recent years.
The scientific processing of the building history of the castles was in the hands of the well-known castle researcher Herrmann Wäscher until 1961 . The extent to which his considerations on the construction process, calculations of the construction scope and construction work and reconstruction attempts are still valid can only be decided after a detailed presentation of the archaeological finds and findings, taking into account the more recent archaeological and architectural studies.
Description of the castle complex
The entire complex is divided into three individual, formerly self-contained castles. They are called upper, middle and lower castle .
Oberburg
Contrary to Hermann Wäscher's assumption, the upper castle is the oldest of the three complexes. According to an evaluation of the ceramic finds by Wolfgang Timpel, it was made in the first half of the 11th century, possibly even in the 10th century. During the construction of the Kyffhäuser monument , over two thirds of it was destroyed. Several outstanding medieval buildings in the west have been preserved. Particularly noteworthy is the square keep , the so-called Barbarossaturm. The tower on the outer shell of the 3 meter thick masonry with humpback blocks is still preserved today at a height of 17 meters, originally it should have been 30 meters high. As with almost all Bergfrieden, it is often assumed that it served the lords of the castle as a last refuge. However, this is a popular myth of older castle research . In addition to the possibility of defense, its actual meaning was its function as a symbol of rule and power. In addition, there is a residential function here, which is shown by two residential floors with chimneys and a lavatory core. In order to keep more trains foundation and walls were excavated and are obtained, including a three-part main housing ( Palas leave) on the south side and a Kitchen suspect on the northwest side. Remains of the curtain wall and the so-called Erfurt Gate , a simple Romanesque chamber gate without additional defenses from the last third of the 12th century, which can be easily compared with similar gate systems on the Runneburg near Weißensee or the Eckartsburg , have been preserved.
During the work on the Kyffhäuser Monument, the buried castle well was rediscovered, which was driven 176 m deep into the rock and is one of the deepest wells on medieval castle grounds in Central Europe. The well tube has a diameter of just over 2 m. It is fed by seepage water and not, as can sometimes be read, by groundwater . The drainage over a crevice keeps the water level constant at 9 m. It was cleaned of debris and rubbish during the archaeological excavations between 1934 and 1938. When the fountain was created cannot be determined with certainty, but it can only be assumed that it was built in the last phase of the castle's expansion. Sometimes, however, a construction period from 1140 to 1180 is assumed, which is justified with the importance of the castle at that time, but so far remains without comparison and thus seems rather unlikely.
The fountain is illuminated today. In the past, to demonstrate the enormous depth, a cup attached to the top, which was slowly filled with water, tipped over every minute and spilled into the well. About 20 seconds later, the impact of the water on the water level in the depths could be observed through the changing light reflections. Now previously acquired stones from the local sandstone can be thrown into it. A basket below the water level catches the stones and enables them to be recovered back into daylight.
Mittelburg
From the middle castle, which was destroyed in the late Middle Ages and early modern times by a quarry for millstones , only remnants of the former masonry are preserved. This includes parts of a rectangular and a round tower. Statements on age, construction process and function are therefore hardly possible. Today it presents itself as a romantic, wild, rugged rock gorge that fascinated Goethe as early as 1776. Inclusions of silicified (petrified) wood were also uncovered by the quarry. Some of these 300 million year old logs can also be found in front of the castle museum.
Lower castle
The lower castle, which was only uncovered and partly rebuilt in the 1930s, is best preserved with an almost closed ring wall that has been preserved up to a height of 10 m and another simple chamber gate with well-preserved gate walls. In the lower castle, remains of the walls and foundations of residential and farm buildings from various phases of the castle's construction have been exposed. In the western part, separated by a transverse wall, there is the stump of the keep with a diameter of 11 m. In the rear part, next to the chapel, which was renovated in the 15th century, a second tower ( residential tower ?) Rose. Since a mighty fire horizon, which was encountered in almost the entire lower castle during the uncovering, can be associated with the destruction in 1118, it must have already existed at this time. However, it should not have been founded much before the 12th century.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Map services of the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation ( information )
- ↑ Saxony-Anhalt Viewer
literature
- Wolfgang Timpel: The medieval ceramics of the Kyffhäuserburgen. In: Paul Grimm : Tilleda. A royal palace on the Kyffhäuser. Volume 2: The outer bailey and summary (= writings on prehistory and early history. Volume 40). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-05-000400-2 , pp. 249f.
- Hansjürgen Brachmann : On the building of castles in the Salian period between the Harz and Elbe. In: Horst Wolfgang Böhme (Hrsg.): Castles of the Salierzeit. Volume 1: In the northern landscapes of the empire (= Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum zu Mainz, RGZM, Research Institute for Pre- and Early History. Monographs 25). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1991, ISBN 3-7995-4134-9 , pp. 97-148, on this pp. 118-120, 129 f. (Cat. No. 2-3).
- Holger Reinhardt: On the dualism of material color and frame in high medieval solid buildings. New findings from Thuringia. In: Castles and palaces in Thuringia. Vol. 1, 1996, ISSN 1436-0624 , pp. 70-84.
- Karl Peschel : hill settlements of the older pre-Roman Iron Age north of the Thuringian Forest. In: Albrecht Jockenhövel (Hrsg.): Ancient Iron Age fortifications between Maas / Mosel and Elbe (= publications of the Antiquities Commission for Westphalia. Vol. 11). International colloquium on November 8, 1997 in Münster on the occasion of the centenary of the Antiquities Commission for Westphalia. Aschendorff, Münster 1999, ISBN 3-402-05036-6 , pp. 125–158, on this especially p. 134 and 139, fig. 10 a. 150.
- Thomas Bienert: Medieval castles in Thuringia. 430 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. Wartberg, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-631-1 , pp. 166-172.
- Dankwart Leistikow: The Rothenburg am Kyffhäuser. In: Castles and early palaces in Thuringia and its neighboring countries (= research on castles and palaces. Vol. 5). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich a. a. 2000, ISBN 3-422-06263-7 , pp. 31-46 (here also a brief summary of the Reichsburg Kyffhausen with an extensive bibliography).
- Ralf Rödger, Petra Wäldchen: Kyffhäuser, castle and monument (= Schnell Kunstführer. Vol. 2061). 11th, completely revised edition. Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2003, ISBN 3-7954-5791-2 .
- Heinrich Schleiff: Preservation of monuments at the Kyffhäuser castle complex and the Kaiser Wilhelm National Monument from 1990–2003. In: From the work of the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation (= workbook of the Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation. New series, vol. 13). Volume 1. Thuringian State Office for Monument Preservation, Erfurt 2003, ISBN 3-910166-93-8 , pp. 122–128.
Web links
- Information from the Kyffhäuser e. V.
- Information about the Reichsburg and the Kyffhäuser Monument on the website of the newly opened "Burghof Kyffhäuser Monument Management "
- Kyffhausen Castle at Burgenarchiv.de
