Hallwyl Castle

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Hallwyl Castle
Hallwyl Castle, rear part

Hallwyl Castle, rear part

Creation time : 1265
Castle type : Moated castle
Conservation status: receive
Place: Seengen
Geographical location 47 ° 19 '23.5 "  N , 8 ° 11' 39"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 19 '23.5 "  N , 8 ° 11' 39"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and fifty-seven thousand one hundred seventeen  /  241644
Height: 450  m above sea level M.
Hallwyl Castle (Canton Aargau)
Hallwyl Castle

The Hallwyl Castle [ halviːl ] is one of the most important water castles of Switzerland and is located on two islands in the Aabach , near the northern end of Lake Hallwil on the territory of the municipality Seengen . It has been open to the public since 1925 and has been owned by the Canton of Aargau since 1994 and is part of the Aargau Museum .

history

In the late 12th century, the Lords of Hallwyl am Aabach, 700 meters north of Lake Hallwil, had a residential tower built, which was surrounded on three sides by a dry moat. To 1265 the residential tower was right on the river bank a east Palas built with storage rooms on the ground floor and living quarters on the first and second floors. In the first half of the 14th century Johans I. Hallwyl left to expand (1305-1348) the modest tower castle for two-fortified water castle by the marshland an island was filled in, on three sides by a circular wall on all sides and a moat surrounded . A round tower comes from this time and is still preserved today.

In 1380 a fire destroyed part of the palace, which was then rebuilt. When Aargau was conquered by the Confederates in 1415, Bernese troops set the castle on fire. Only the residential tower and some rooms in the main hall of the rear castle were spared. After that, the castle was rebuilt and expanded; so in 1420/25 the hall on the rear island was extended to the south. Dietrich von Hallwyl (1462–1509) had gun turrets with thick walls, shooting niches and slits built on the eastern corners of the Rear Island around 1500. Around 1520 further extensive renovations were carried out, in which more buildings were added.

Burkhard III. von Hallwyl (1535–1598) had the castle expanded into a representative castle between 1578 and 1590. Stair towers were built, facades were rebuilt and the ballroom in the rear palace was given its present form. The formerly fortified castle now had the shape of a representative late Gothic residential palace. The castle mill, which has existed since the 14th century, was built in 1637 on a third island in the Aabach. By 1800, who had to keep to be removed due to decay down to the bottom floor.

Between 1871 and 1873, Hans Theodor von Hallwyl (1835–1909) had some buildings redesigned in the neo-Gothic style. The start-up crisis drove the client into bankruptcy in 1874 . His brother Walther (1839–1921) bought the castle from him so that it could continue to be owned by the family. However, since he lived in Stockholm , the castle remained unused for three decades. Walther's wife Wilhelmina von Hallwyl (1844–1930) commissioned a comprehensive repair in 1910. In the following six years, the archaeologist Nils Lithberg carried out extensive investigations, while the architect Anders Roland returned the castle to its medieval state and reversed the neo-Gothic renovations.

After her husband's death, Wilhelmina von Hallwyl set up the Hallwil Foundation in 1925 and opened the castle to the public. In 1994 the castle was donated to the canton of Aargau, which carried out an urgently needed overall renovation between 1997 and 2004.

  • Front Island House

  • House and courtyard

  • Palas with lair tower, behind the castle mill

  • Hall with stair tower

  • Hallwyl Castle

building

The moated castle stands on two islands, which are surrounded by an artificially created and two natural arms of the Aabach . The moats are bricked. The older part of the complex is on the western island, the so-called rear island. From the castle keep , the rough-hewn from boulders there, only the bottom floor has been preserved. The Palas is flanked by three towers: the stair tower stands between the keep and the Palas, the archive tower and the lair tower stand on the moat between the two islands.

The rear island can only be reached via a bridge from the front island, the younger part of the complex. Four buildings are grouped around a large inner courtyard. On the north side is the former stable that now houses a café. Following the Efeuturm on the northeast corner, the former granary follows on the east side. It was built in 1520/21 as a replacement for the burned down chair house and today contains the cash register, the shop and an exhibition. The residential building on the southeast corner (with attached stair tower) forms the most representative part of the castle.

  • Winter 1905, before restoration. Model by engineer F. Becker, created on behalf of Countess Wilhelmina von Hallwyl.

  • Summer 1916, after the restoration

  • Palace complex 2014

sightseeing

The castle is open to visitors from Tuesday to Sunday and on public holidays from April 1st to October 31st. The museum shows the history of the Lords of Hallwyl and the way of life of the lords of the castle and the local population in past centuries in eleven themed areas.

The castle is located on the main road between Seengen and Boniswil . There is a stop for the Regionalbus Lenzburg company at this ; Buses run to Lenzburg and Teufenthal . The Boniswil-Seengen train station on the Seetalbahn is a 15-minute walk away. On weekends there is the possibility of taking courses from the Hallwilersee shipping company to reach the pier, which is a 10-minute walk away.

literature

  • August Bickel: The Lords of Hallwyl in the Middle Ages. Contribution to the history of the Swabian-Swiss nobility. Sauerländer, Aarau 1978, ISBN 3794117735 .
  • Ric Berger, Piero Bianconi: Castelli svizzeri. , Volume 2, Neuchâtel 1996.
  • Castor Huser, Carlo Tognola: Hallwyl Castle. Structural renovation and restoration, 1998-2004. Hier + Jetzt, Verlag für Kultur und Geschichte, Baden 2005, ISBN 3-906419-99-1 .
  • Stephan M. Leuthard, Heinrich Gabriel: Palaces and castles of the Aargau. Editions Ovaphil, Lausanne 1976.

Web links

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