Bad Homburg Castle

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Bad Homburg Castle with the White Tower

The Homburg Castle in Bad Homburg was the residence of the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg and after 1866 summer residence of Prussian kings and German emperors. Today the palace is the headquarters of the administration of the State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse and is open to the public as a museum palace . The historic building also serves as the venue for the Bad Homburg Palace Concerts .

architecture

The castle has the shape of a rectangle - with a round corner to the castle park - with a side length of 120 meters (from east to west) and 100 meters (from south to north). The entire building is divided into two inner courtyards: the lower one (bounded by the castle church, the clock tower, deer aisle, the English wing and the roofed former passage to the Lutheran castle church) and the upper court (bounded by the archives, royal and deer aisles) and library wing). The upper courtyard is laid out as a terrace open to the west and thus enables a view of the Taunus and the castle park. He is from the White Tower , a freestanding keep surmounted, which was built in the third quarter of the 14th century and now the landmark of Bad Homburg is. Its total height is 48.11 m.

history

Valentin Wagner : View of Homburg from the north 1633.

Castle construction around 1180

The first building on the ridge on which today's Bad Homburg Castle is located was a light post construction, which is based on 14 C-dates in the time of the first mention of Ortwin von Hohenberch (also: Wortwin von Hohenberch; both versions are spelled handed down) can be classified around 1180. This structure burned down after a short period of use or was demolished and replaced by a building made of timber frame technology. It lasted around 100 years until it burned down and was replaced by a stone castle in the second half of the 14th century by the Brendels , servants of the Lords of Eppstein . The keep , today's “White Tower” , also dates from this period .

Castle construction

In the courtyard of the castle.

In 1680 Landgrave Friedrich II had the castle torn down, only the keep remained. The Homburg Castle was built from 1680 to 1685 under the construction management of Paul Andrich . The long-held assumption that the lock was built “from one piece” cannot be upheld; because of course (as proven by excavations) existing building components were used.

Due to a lack of money, the castle was not given structural care in the 18th century. Gigantic renovation plans, for example by Louis Remy de la Fosse , were not carried out. Only the establishment of the so-called “mirror cabinet” - a wedding present from the Homburg carpenter's guild on the occasion of the wedding of Landgrave Friedrich III. with Christiane Charlotte von Nassau-Ottweiler in 1728 - should be mentioned at this point.

In 1818 Hereditary Prince Friedrich married , later Landgrave Friedrich VI. the Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain and Ireland . The "English Landgrave" brought a handsome dowry into the marriage. Soon after Friedrich took office (1820), work began on converting the palace. Under the construction management of Georg Moller , the castle was expanded into a residential residence in the style of German classicism in around 20 years.

Imperial summer residence

Neo-Romanesque hall Romanesque double capitals

After the war of 1866, Hessen-Darmstadt entered the estate that had just been signed by the inheritance contract between the last Homburg Landgrave Ferdinand and Grand Duke Ludwig III. acquired Landgraviate Hessen-Homburg to Prussia . Kaiser Wilhelm I stayed here a few times, as did his son and successor Friedrich III. with wife Victoria . However, Wilhelm II had a particular soft spot for Homburg Castle, which he and his family liked to use as a summer residence. The imperial court architect Louis Jacobi carried out numerous renovations and redesigns while preserving the historical structure of the building : installing bathrooms and water closets, laying electrical lines, telephone rooms and merging several rooms. In 1901 the so-called “Romanesque Hall” was added to the library wing. Capitals of the secularized Brauweiler monastery serve as the substructure of a terrace on which the emperor is said to have enjoyed his tea. Six of the richly decorated double capitals come from the cloister of the monastery founded in 1024.

Todays use

After the end of the monarchy in 1918, the palace came under the administration of the Administration of State Palaces and Gardens of the State of Prussia in 1927 ; its legal successor, the Administration of State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse, has had its administrative headquarters in the palace since 1947. As a museum palace, the historical interiors can be viewed on guided tours.

Due to serious static problems, the king wing, the wing with the apartment of the last German imperial family, had to be closed in February 2011 in order to be able to carry out fundamental renovation work. In May 2017, some of the rooms could be viewed after the static damage had been repaired. Progress in the renovation of paintings and furniture was shown, the costs of which were partly covered by sponsors.

English grand piano

English grand piano - dining room

The historically interesting "English wing" is not affected by this and can still be visited. The ensemble presents itself in almost pure late classicism in which Elisabeth and Friedrich VI. wanted to live. Around 1820 the couple had settled in the clock tower wing. The Landgrave's death in 1829 should have put an end to this intention. Nevertheless, the project was completed and Elisabeth set up a "residential apartment". The dining room is particularly expressive with its magnificent murals in the “Pompeian style”. Modern hygiene was also introduced with a "water closet" (absolutely modern and ecological with a rainwater cistern). Elizabeth, who was born as an English princess, lived here until her death in 1840. Her furnishings give an impression of Elizabeth's many artistic interests as well as aristocratic life in the 19th century. This wing of the castle had been closed since 1965 because it was in disrepair, but was reopened to the public in 1995 on the occasion of the 225th birthday of the "English Landgrave".

Baroque architrave

Lower gate with architrave
Upper gate with architrave

Two portals are an exception in the rather sober building, which does not at all fit into the Baroque period.

Lower gate

Two pillars carry the architrave , provided with the coat of arms of Frederick II and his two wives, Countess Margarethe Brahe and Louise Elisabeth von Kurland. Two Roman warriors flank the gate guard and above it stands the statue of Hercules covered with a lion's skin .

Upper gate

Above the pillars to the right and left are the figures of Mars and Minerva and then “a truly baroque thought”, as the art historian Fried Lübbecke judges - the Landgrave, surrounded by war emblems, bursts out of a niche on his horse in full armor, below him two naked prisoners. It is a work by Zacharias Juncker the Elder. J.

Castle Church

Castle Church

The castle church is integrated into a wing of the castle and built as a hall church. After its inauguration in 1697, the castle church was also the Evangelical Lutheran town church until the beginning of the 20th century. With the construction of the Church of the Redeemer in 1908, the castle church was deconstructed, fell into oblivion and fell into disrepair. It was not until 1982 that a citizens' initiative was formed to promote the restoration of the church.

Inside the church, the two-storey galleries, which are decorated with biblical motifs, dominate. Above the choir, a painting by Carl Joseph Begas (1794–1854) depicts Jesus Christ prophesying the downfall of Jerusalem.

Crypt

Crypt, coffin of Landgrave Friedrich I.

The family crypt of the landgraves is located in the vaults of the castle church under the choir. With the burial of the last Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, Ferdinand , the last free space in the burial chamber was filled. There are 77 coffins in the crypt. The cover of the crypt entrance is a bronze plate created by the artist Horst Hoheisel . On this plate is the beginning of the poem Patmos by Friedrich Hölderlin from 1803.

Historic Bürgy organ

Castle church with organ

In the course of the renovation, the organ was also reconstructed, which had been built in 1787 by the organ builder Johann Conrad Bürgy (Homburg) and of which only the prospectus remained. Today it serves as one of the instruments of the international organ festival "Fugato" in Bad Homburg. The instrument has been faithfully restored, including the historic wind turbine, the six wedge bellows of which are operated by limestone. The purely mechanical grinding loading -instrument has 38 registers on three manuals and pedals. The echo mechanism is remarkable, the wind chests and pipes of which are housed in the lower part of the organ case.

I echo C – e 3
1. Bourdon 8th'
2. Lull 4 ′
3. Salicional B / D 2 ′ / 4 ′
4th Quint 3 ′
5. Octav 2 ′
6th Basson / Vox humana 8th'
Tremulant
II main work C – e 3
7th Great Bourdon 16 ′
8th. Principal 8th'
9. Little Bourdon 8th'
10. Viola di gamba 8th'
11. Salicional 8th'
12. Octav 4 ′
13. Lull minor 4 ′
14th Quinta 3 ′
15th Super octave 2 ′
16. Idleness 2 ′
17th Lack of play 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′
18th Cimpal II 1'
19th Cornet VI D 8th'
20th Mixture VI 1'
21st Trumpet 8th'
III Upper structure C – e 3
22nd Lull major 8th'
23. Flaut travers D 8th'
24. Principal 4 ′
25th Idleness 4 ′
26th Quint 3 ′
27. Octav 2 ′
28. Pointed flute 2 ′
29 Mixture III 1'
30th Krummhorn 8th'
31. Vox humana 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – c 1
32. Principal 16 ′
33. Sub bass 16 ′
34. Octav bass 8th'
35. Quinta 6 ′
36. Super octave 4 ′
37. Mixture IV 2 ′
38. Trombones bass 16 ′

Stables

Built between 1679 and 1686, the wing building, which was pushed forward in a westerly direction, originally served as a ballroom . In the 19th century the building was converted into a stables in order to better accommodate the landgraves' (and later also the Prussian kings) fleet of vehicles with horses and carriages. The stable staff also lived in part of the stables for a time. The building joins the castle church to the west at a right angle. Today it limits the lower castle parking lot to the south. The building is mainly used by the administration as a storage area.

Castle Park

Eastern part of the palace park with Lebanon cedar

→ Main article Bad Homburg Castle Park

The first garden is mentioned in 1441 in connection with the castle. In the 17th century, at the same time as the castle was rebuilt, a regular garden was laid out in 1679. The court gardener Johann Adam Wittmann redesigned the garden from 1770 into a landscape park based on the English model. In the 19th century, the garden was planted with exotic trees and the route was simplified. The famous Lebanon cedars , which Landgrave Elisabeth obtained from Kew Gardens in England around 1820 , also date from this period . From 1866 the Prussian court garden administration managed the garden and from 1870 had regular plantings (carpet beds) laid out again.

literature

  • Heinz Biehn , Wolfgang Einsingbach: Official guide Schloss Homburg in front of the height . Published by the Administration of the State Palaces and Gardens in Hesse. German Kunstverlag, Munich 1959
  • Günther Binding : Observations and excavations in Bad Homburg Castle in front of the height in 1962 . In: Communications from the Association for History and Regional Studies in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Volume 32 (1974)
  • Rüdiger Kurth: Maybe he met Emperor Barbarossa. (W) Ortwin von Hohenberch and his castle, in: Yearbook of the Hochtaunuskreis 2006 . Frankfurt 2005, pp. 94-98
  • Friedrich Lotz: History of the city of Bad Homburg before the height . 2 volumes:
    • Volume 1: Encounter with documents . Kramer, Frankfurt 1964
    • Volume 2: The Landgrave Period . Kramer, Frankfurt 1972, ISBN 3-7829-0133-9
  • Fried Lübbecke: Little Fatherland Homburg before the height . Frankfurt 1964
  • Bernd Modrow, Claudia Gröschel: Princely pleasure. 400 years of garden culture in Hessen . Schnell + Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-7954-1487-3
  • Bernd Modrow: Homburg Palace Park in front of the height. From Burggarten to Schlosspark , Schnell + Steiner publishing house, Regensburg, 1st edition 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-1966-0
  • Maria Bringezu-Paschen, Johann Conrad Bürgy. Organ and instrument maker in Homburg vor der Höhe. A contribution to the history of organ building in the 18th century. In: Communications from the Association for History and Regional Studies in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe, Volume 31 (1970).
  • Iris Reepen, Claudia Göschel: Landgravine Elisabeth, her apartment in Homburg Castle and her gardens . Verlag Bildung und Wissen, Bad Homburg 1998, ISBN 3-7954-1346-X

Web links

Commons : Bad Homburg Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gießener Anzeiger (November 28, 2005): "A fountain for the Wortwins tower castle" ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Udo W. Hombach: The miraculous ways of the hiking pillars. NRhZ-Online - Neue Rheinische Zeitung, February 13, 2019, accessed on March 19, 2020 .
  3. ↑ fr-online.de: The kingside in danger .
  4. ↑ faz.net: Danger of collapse in Bad Homburg Castle .
  5. ↑ Not yet completely renovated in FAZ from June 1, 2017, page 45.
  6. ↑ Bad Homburg. In: www.schloesser-hessen.de. Retrieved October 21, 2016 .
  7. ^ Fried Lübbecke: Small Fatherland. Homburg vor der Höhe. Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1956, p. 92.
  8. ↑ Information on the castle church
  9. ↑ Information on the castle church
  10. ↑ Information on the Bürgy organ

Coordinates: 50 ° 13 ′ 39 ″  N , 8 ° 36 ′ 36 ″  E