Nordkirchen Castle

Aerial view of the palace complex, view from the southeast

Nordkirchen Castle, view of the garden side

Nordkirchen Castle: the symmetrical main building from the south

The Nordkirchen castle is a baroque palace complex in the southern Münsterland and is just over 25 kilometers from Münster located on the territory of the municipality of North Churches in North Rhine-Westphalia Coesfeld . The listed moated castle is the largest and most important baroque residence in Westphalia and is also known as the "Westphalian Versailles " due to its dimensions and architectural design .

The origins of today's castle lie in a moated castle of the Morrien family , which Gerhard III. von Morrien had it expanded into one of the most strongly fortified moated castles in the Münsterland at the beginning of the 16th century . After the male line of the family died out, the heirs sold the facility in 1694 to Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg , Prince-Bishop of Münster . In the course of more than 30 years of construction work, his family had the castle transformed into a representative, baroque residence in the 18th century. After the work was completed in 1734, the Nordkirchen Palace Garden was one of the most famous gardens in Europe. When the lord of the castle, Ferdinand von Plettenberg, died in 1737, he left behind a heavily indebted property that subsequent generations could only maintain with great difficulty. When the male line of the von Plettenberg family died out in 1813 , ownership of the property passed to her son Miklós Esterházy de Galántha via the heiress Maria von Plettenberg . He had changes made in the garden and in the interior.

After his death, his Hungarian relatives sold the facility to Duke Engelbert-Maria von Arenberg . He not only had the now run-down buildings renovated and modernized, but also enlarged the main building. He also had the large palace garden partially restored and expanded. After the ducal family no longer used the castle as a residence after the end of World War II , the complex gradually fell into disrepair.

In 1949, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia rented the castle and, after an initial renovation, operated its state finance school in the castle buildings, which were now in danger of collapsing, from which the State of North Rhine-Westphalia University of Finance later emerged. In 1958, the state acquired the castle island including the main building as well as part of the castle park and started a long-term restoration campaign , which came to a preliminary conclusion in 1991 with the restoration of the baroque Venus island north of the castle. Extension buildings for the university of applied sciences were built in 1970/1971 in particular on the edges of the palace gardens.

UNESCO declared the palace and park to be worthy of protection as a “total work of art of international standing”. The buildings still house the North Rhine-Westphalia University of Finance with around 1000 students. In the vaulted cellar restaurant is housed. Some areas of the castle are open to visitors and can be visited on guided tours. In 1988, 50,000 visitors took advantage of this opportunity. The castle park is also open to the public. The castle chapel can be rented for weddings.

history

The beginnings

Reconstruction of the moth in the deer park

Nordkirchen Castle goes back - like almost all moated castles in Westphalia - to a medieval moated castle. Already in the early Middle Ages there was an upper court there , which Liudger , the first bishop of Münster, received from Charlemagne around 800 together with 33 associated lower courts and then donated it to the newly founded Werden Abbey . The bailiwick rights over it lay after 1225 with the Counts von der Mark , who had apparently lent them to the Lords of Lüdinghausen . The first documented family member in Nordkirchen was Johann I von Lüdinghausen, known as Morrien, whose family also held the Werden Oberhof as a fief from 1275. He belonged to the castle team of the Botzlar episcopal state castle and the Bispinghof in Münster and later lived in a “ permanent house ”, which is believed to be located east of today's castle in the so-called deer park . It was probably a small moth north of today's road to Capelle near the Gorbach , while the Oberhof was in a place in today's castle park called Morriensches Loch . Johann's son Johann II finally abandoned the name of Lüdinghausen and in 1350 acquired the title of Hereditary Marshal of the Duchy of Münster from Conrad von Rechede. The von Morrien thus provided the leader of the knighthood of the duchy and the chairman of the state parliaments in the Münsterland.

Owned by the von Morrien family (1368 to 1694)

Johann III. From 1398, von Morrien had a new family seat built near the village of Nordkirchen on the site of today's castle. Since this was planned as a water castle, an artificial lake was dug, which was fed by a natural spring horizon.

The 15th century saw the Morrien family steadily increase in prestige and power. In 1444 Gerhard II. Von Morrien received the Werdener Oberhof with all accessories for himself and his family "for everlasting lease". The consideration for this was only a very small annual fee. From about 1528 Gerhard III. von Morrien rebuild and expand the family seat as a castle. To protect them from attacks with modern firearms, he wanted to surround them with an extensive defense system made up of walls and moats . To make room for it, he had the village church, built around the year 1000, torn down as early as 1524, which was rebuilt in its current location in 1536 after a long legal dispute. A stone cross in the castle park marks the former church location. For strategic reasons, the village also had to give way to the new fortifications of the moated castle and was rebuilt around 500 meters further north in 1530.

The old Nordkirchen Castle before it was demolished in 1703, bird's eye view by Peter Pictorius the Elder. J., around 1703

The new castle was the work of the Coesfeld master builder Henric de Suer and his son Johann, who had already built Herten Castle for the Stecke and Nesselrode families. The castle pond was expanded and given a square shape. After completion in the 1530s, the complex was one of the most heavily fortified moated castles in the Münsterland for around 150 years. Peter Pictorius the Younger recorded their appearance in 1703 in a colored bird's eye view. Accordingly, the castle consisted of a bailey with a gatehouse , chapel and farm buildings such as stables, brewery and stables, as well as a core castle to the south of it . Both parts were on their own islands. The main castle consisted of a manor house on the southern edge of the inner castle island with Gothic pinnacle gables and round towers on the southern corners. On the north facade facing the courtyard stood a large stair tower with a steep helmet and onion dome . Parallel to the mansion there was another wing with stepped gables on the north side of the island . The two wings were connected by connecting structures on the east and west sides. The buildings were surrounded on all sides by an inner moat , which was preceded by a high wall with four massive battery towers at the corners. The material for the construction of the wall came from the wide outer moat that surrounded the earthwork on all four sides. The three-story corner towers had a conical roof that was closed off by a weather vane . With a diameter of about 24 meters, its walls were up to five meters thick. The north-east of them served as a gate tower , from which a wooden bridge led to the gatehouse of the outer bailey with its pinnacle-studded stepped gables. The last part of the bridge was designed as a drawbridge .

In 1561 Gerhard IV von Morrien replaced the long lease of the Nordkirchen fiefdom of the Werden monastery. He succeeded in releasing Nordkirchen from its feudal relationship with the church and making the possessions an allodial for his family. This survived the Thirty Years War completely unscathed, because - as far as is known - the castle was never attacked. Nevertheless, there was excitement in Nordkirchen in the war year 1627. Johann IV von Morrien got his family into serious trouble at the time, because although he was chamberlain to Bishop Ferdinand I of Bavaria and thus a Catholic prince, he managed to recruit two regiments for Christian IV , the Protestant king of Denmark. Because this was considered an enemy of the country, Johann IV was charged with treason and found guilty. All of his property in the prince-bishopric was confiscated . Although he was released again, he died on March 30, 1628 when he fell from his horse, without ever getting back the money he had advanced from the Danish king. His widow, Anna Sophia von Limburg-Styrum zu Borculo , was able to have the expropriation lifted for her children by converting to the Catholic faith. Anna Sophia's older son Ferdinand was raised to the status of imperial baron in 1670 . When he died in 1688, Nordkirchen Castle was inherited by his younger brother Johann Bernhard. But he also died childless on January 11, 1691, and so the property fell to the eight surviving children of Juliana Adolpha Sophia von Morrien, the older sister of Ferdinand and Johann Bernhard, who was married to Baron Ferdinand von Weichs zu Roesberg. Because none of the heirs was able to pay off his siblings in order to become the sole master of Nordkirchen, the heirs decided to sell the facility. Maria Sophia von Weichs and her husband, Count Jakob von Hamilton , took the lead in the sale.

Property of the von Plettenberg family (1694 to 1833)

Disposition draft for the new palace building; You can see the old castle and the planned new building

The Prince-Bishop of Münster, Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg-Lenhausen , acquired the Nordkirchen estate , which was eligible for the state parliament, on October 24, 1694 for 250,000  Reichstaler and increased the property as well as the sphere of influence by purchasing further lands and jurisdictions in the area. Subsequently, on September 15, 1695, he brought him into a family affidavit established with his four living brothers . Then he began to develop the existing moated castle into a representative ancestral seat of his family, because up until now the von Plettenberg family had only old mansions in the Sauerland . In 1697 he engaged Gottfried Laurenz Pictorius for the planned renovation and modernization of the existing buildings , who initially only planned minor renovations. From March, Pictorius was supported in the planning by Jacob Roman , who came from The Hague . He was court architect of the governor of the Netherlands and had together with Daniel Marot for Wilhelm III. of Orange built the castle Het Loo near Apeldoorn , which served as a model for the new building. From 1699 Pictorius' younger brother Peter also worked on the Nordkirchen plans. A draft, for which Steven Jacobsz Vennekool had also given suggestions, finally found the approval of the church prince in 1702 and was approved by him for execution. It no longer only envisaged a reconstruction of the existing buildings, but their demolition and a completely new building in the style of French baroque classicism .

The foundation stone was laid on June 13, 1703 in the presence of the client. Before that, the old outer bailey buildings had been laid down between 1700 and 1702; the trench between the inner and outer bailey islands was filled with the rubble. The resulting new and larger castle island was raised and made into an even rectangle. The outer moat surrounding it was straightened and the high dams were removed. The prince-bishop had a whole company of his soldiers line up for the huge earth moving in northern churches. In the following years the core castle was demolished until 1706. Their stones were used in the construction of the new castle. Despite the death of Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg in May 1706, construction work continued unhindered. The supervision of the construction site was taken over by his brother, Provost Ferdinand von Plettenberg , who acted as guardian for the Prince-Bishop's heir, 18-year-old Werner Anton von Plettenberg . After Werner Anton died unexpectedly of a lung disease in June 1711, the inheritance passed to his younger brother Ferdinand , who was also under the tutelage of his uncle. When he died in 1712, Ferdinand became sole master of Nordkirchen at the age of 22. The construction had meanwhile progressed so far that the interior of the corps de logis and the side wings had already begun. To the west of the building was a formal garden in the Dutch style, laid out from 1704 to 1707 . It was divided into rectangular compartments by crossing paths and had round towers at the two western corners. The mighty battery towers at the corners of the castle island had to give way to octagonal pavilions .

General plan for the new palace by Gottfried Laurenz Pictorius, 1703

Ferdinand von Plettenberg continued the work of his predecessors. In 1714 the castle chapel in the chapel wing named after it on the east side of the castle island was completed. The cattle house in the former outer bailey area was completed in 1716, the horse stable with riding house and carriage shed begun in 1712 in 1720. In 1718 the lord of the castle started the construction of an orangery in the west garden, which is now called Oranienburg . The designs for this came from Peter Pictorius the Younger and also envisaged use as a garden casino. Around the same year, the equipping of the representative rooms on the ground floor of the Corps de Logis was completed. In 1719 the palace complex was the scene of costly fireworks that were set off on the occasion of the visit of the newly elected Prince-Bishop of Münster and Paderborn , Clemens August von Bayern . It was the first private fireworks display in Westphalia. In the following years, the lord of the castle made a brilliant career at the court of the prince-bishop, whom he was able to secure the election of Archbishop of Cologne in 1723 . In gratitude for this, Clemens August von Bayern appointed him Prime Minister of his principalities. 1724 he was appointed to the Imperial Count by Emperor Charles VI. Plettenberg was the most influential and powerful personality at the electoral court at that time. He invested the associated income, among other things, in his Nordkirchen Castle, where Johann Conrad Schlaun was active for the first time in 1723 . In the following years he was increasingly included in the planning and finally replaced Peter Pictorius the younger as site manager.

Drawing of the west garden by Johann Conrad Schlaun and Dominique Girard, 1725

Under his leadership, a large-scale redesign of the palace gardens and the southern Vorwerk island began in 1725 . This included, among other things, the expansion of the Oranienburg into a two-storey summer palace with a ballroom . For this purpose, the building was raised by one floor and a porch for a staircase was added to its north side. The facade was finished in December 1725, but the interior of the new upper floor continued until 1732. Since the Oranienburg could no longer fulfill its original function as an orangery, Schlaun built a new orangery building further west in the meanwhile redesigned and enlarged garden from 1729. Dominique Girard , a Bavarian hydraulic engineer and gardening inspector and a student of André Le Nôtres , provided the drafts for its new planning in a strictly French style . He had already planned the gardens of the palaces Nymphenburg , Schleissheim , Augustusburg in Brühl and the Vienna Belvedere . For the new garden, considerable amounts of earth had to be moved and heaped up in order to obtain the necessary flat areas, because after its completion it should be about twice the size. From 1727, the Dutch-style garden planned by Pictorius turned into a spacious complex with boulingrins , water basins with fountains , water cascades , a higher-lying broderie parterre and strips of lawn called tapis verts . In addition there were ponds, bosket and cabinet gardens with tree halls. Another ground floor garden with a triangular broderie area was laid out north of the Oranienburg , and a maze was created to the west of the summer palace from 1728 . In front of the new orangery was a symmetrically designed vegetable garden with a square floor plan, which, however, was not a kitchen garden . The vegetables intended for consumption were cultivated in kitchen gardens to the east and north of the new castle. The Nordkirchen Baroque Garden also included a pheasantry , the building of which was built from 1717 to 1719 according to Schlaun's designs. It replaced a previous building by Peter Pictorius, the location of which has not yet been determined. In addition to pheasants, peacocks, quails , pigeons, Egyptian and English chickens and canaries were kept there. The new west garden was lavishly decorated with garden sculptures and was connected to the castle island by a new bridge in 1727. When all the work was done, it was one of the most beautiful and famous gardens in Europe. To the south, the zoo , which was laid out from 1704 to 1724 and served the castle residents as an artificial hunting ground, was located.

From around 1730 until 1735, another garden was built near the castle under the direction of Johann Conrad Schlaun, for which Schlaun himself supplied the designs. To the north of the main building, the so-called north garden was created along the central axis, including an old pond. In the center of it was a cabinet garden with a water basin bordered by high hedges and surrounded by yew trees cut into shape . Located on a peninsula, this garden could only be reached from two side embankments in the east and west, but not directly from the castle building. A terrace with two parterres and round fountain basins, various garden sculptures and lawns with tree-lined spaces as well as two diagonally running, avenue-like dams rounded off the north garden. At the same time, Schlaun was also in charge of redesigning the interior of the Corps de Logis. According to his plans, the lord's dining room and living quarters were modified by leading Bonn court artists, such as the cabinet maker Heydeloff or the plasterers Carlo Pietro Morsegno and the brothers Carlo Pietro and Giovanni Domenico Castelli. The dining room was decorated in white and gold in the style of the Regency , the first of its kind in Westphalia. The interior created in the process , along with the ballroom in Lembeck Castle, is the most beautiful preserved interior design of this era in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The work on the castle was largely completed in 1734. From 1703 to the end of 1733, 216,188 thalers were spent on the new palace. The redesign and redesign of the gardens and outdoor facilities resulted in a further 28,907 thalers from 1726 onwards. The client was only barely able to pay the last building bills. The main reason for his financial plight was that he had fallen out of favor with the Elector a year earlier because his cousin, Vice-Colonel Stable Master Friedrich Christian von Beverförde , the Teutonic Order Commander Johann Baptist von Roll , who was close to the Elector, on May 5, 1733 killed in a duel. Clemens August von Bayern blamed Ferdinand von Plettenberg, who was completely uninvolved in the matter, for this misfortune and dismissed him from all state offices in September 1733. In his anger, the elector even allowed himself to be carried away by having Nordkirchen Castle occupied by the military in 1734. As of November 23 of that year, three companies of soldiers therefore besieged the palace complex for six days before they succeeded in taking it. The troops soon had to vacate the facility. After the break with his long-time employer, Ferdinand von Plettenberg went to Vienna and served Emperor Charles VI there. When he died in March 1737, he left his wife Bernhardine Felicitas von Westerholt- Lembeck and his children a property that was heavily in debt. At Nordkirchen Castle alone there was a mortgage of 98,000 thalers. His widow had to sell furniture, glass, china and paintings from her husband's art collection in order to barely hold the castle.

Ferdinand's son Franz Joseph (1714–1779) inherited the castle and lived with his wife Aloysia von Lamberg , who came from old Viennese nobility, in the Austrian capital, most recently in poor circumstances. The Nordkirchen Fideikommiss had been under sovereign administration since 1764. During his lifetime, Franz Joseph transferred the Westphalian family properties to his eldest son Franz Anton (1735–1766), who was forced to sell the family silver in order to make ends meet. After Franz Anton's death, his brother Clemens August von Plettenberg (1742–1771) took over the management of the property, but could not prevent the family's total debt from rising to 603,475 thalers by 1769. He died a short time later, after the birth of his only child, Maximilian Friedrich (1771–1813). He knew just as little how to do business well as his predecessors and lived far beyond his means. The consequences were increasing indebtedness and neglect of the Nordkirchen Castle because the money for adequate maintenance was lacking. With Maximilian Friedrich, this branch of the von Plettenberg family died out in 1813.

Maximilian Friedrich von Plettenberg's sole heir was his only daughter Maria (1809–1861), who was only four years old at the time. She grew up under the tutelage of a distant relative, Freiherr Maximilian Friedrich von Ketteler . He succeeded in redeveloping the finances of Nordkirchen Castle by selling all properties outside the Münsterland and various pieces of the castle inventory. When she came of age in 1833, the heiress took over a consolidated property.

Property of the Esterházy de Galántha family (1833 to 1903)

Lithograph of Nordkirchen Castle around 1860

The castle around 1880

Maria von Plettenberg married Count Nikolaus Franz von Esterházy de Galántha on February 16, 1833 . The couple chose Nordkirchen as one of their main residences, alongside Vienna and Forchtenstein Castle , and commissioned the Düsseldorf horticultural director Maximilian Friedrich Weyhe to transform the palace island and the north garden into an English-style landscape garden that was popular at the time . Weyhe created a garden island with curved shorelines and two pear-shaped inland ponds. Winding paths led past groups of trees and solitary plantings. During the work between 1834 and 1840, the old garden designed by Johann Conrad Schlaun completely disappeared. For the first time, this area was directly connected to the castle building. For this purpose, a small strip of land was specially created on the north side of the Corps de Logis, from which a cast-iron bridge led to the newly designed garden area from January 1834. Work on the garden continued sporadically until 1849. The two small cabinet gardens to the west and east of the Corps de Logis were redesigned, the orangery repaired and a new pineapple house built. The west garden remained largely unchanged. Maria and her husband also had changes made inside the castle. In the period from 1848 to 1850 they re-equipped the library and around 1850 set up a knight's hall in the western section of the Corps de Logis next to the upper hall . On the ground floor, the régence paneling in the dining room had to be changed due to worm infestation in 1850/51. Their white and gold panels made of oak wood were sucked off and made visible to wood, which corresponded to the zeitgeist of the romantic era . Maria's son Nikolaus Josef von Esterházy de Galántha established the “First Westphalian Thoroughbred Stud” on the Schlossinsel in 1868 with 15 other noble thoroughbred breeders for the breeding of racing horses . At the end of the 19th century he had the so-called racing course south of the west garden laid out. Most recently he ran the stud, which was the largest racing stable in West Germany for several years, alone. When he died unmarried in 1897, Nordkirchen Castle fell to his Hungarian relatives, who, however, were not interested in the complex.

Property of the Dukes of Arenberg (1903 to 1958)

Six years after the death of the last Nordkirchen lord of the palace from the Esterházy family, his heirs sold the property complex including the palace inventory on October 1, 1903 for six million marks (today approx. 40,700,000 euros ) to Duke Engelbert-Maria von Arenberg . His family had grown extraordinarily rich from coal mining in the Ruhr area . In 1913 he was considered "by far the richest landowner in Westphalia".

For 200,000 marks (approx. 1,200,000 euros) he had the overdue repairs to the roofs and chimneys and the modernization of the living spaces carried out by May 1906. Nordkirchen Castle received central heating, an electric light and bell system as well as a new water supply and a telephone connection. The small chamber chapel was rededicated as the Duchess's bathroom and used as such until 1970. With the exception of the chapel itself, the chapel wing of the main castle was also to be rebuilt and a library set up on the upper floor. Of the plans, however, only those for the stairwell were implemented.

The renovations were carried out according to plans by the French architect René Sergent , which included the demolition of the farm buildings and guard houses to make space for a monumental gallery that frames the castle island . The existing buildings were to be re-sheathed according to Sergent's plans. However, these were not implemented or only rudimentarily implemented, but the guard houses were demolished as planned in 1910.

From the end of 1906, the new lord of the castle forged plans to re-baroque the castle gardens. The Paris garden architect Achille Duchêne provided the designs . At that time he was an international leader in the design of neo-baroque French gardens. The redesign included the deforestation of the trees on the surrounding dams and on the Vorwerkinsel in order to clear the castle buildings again. However, the main focus was on the complete change of the north garden to a rectangular island with lawn and broderie parterres. The trees planted by Weyhe were all cleared, the inland ponds removed and the garden leveled.

However, Duchêne's garden was not based on the baroque Schlaun design, but had a completely independent form. The narrow strip of land north of the palace building became a terrace in 1908/1909 , from which a new 40-meter-long staircase to replace the iron Weyhe Bridge led directly to the new garden ground floor. The castle pond north of the new garden island was given new boundaries on the north and south sides with large open staircases with plastic decorations. At the edge of the northern marble staircase, sculptures of reclining figures were to be set up, which were to represent the four rivers Rhine , Tiber , Nile and Euphrates , but only the Rhine and the Tiber were actually realized. The figures were just a few of the very many with which the Duke of Arenberg had the island area of ​​the north garden, which was largely completed by 1911. Some of them were copies of older statues from the 18th century.

Achille Duchêne also provided two drafts for the renovation of the baroque west garden, of which only individual parts were executed until 1914 and the western garden was thus only roughly restored. For example, an elaborate broderieparterre in front of the Oranienburg was not realized, but it is shown in a bird's eye view from Marcel Fouquier's publication De l'Art des jardins du XVe au XXe siècle from 1911. A new east garden was built to the east of the castle island from 1907 - also based on Duchêne's designs. For this purpose, the road from north to south churches , which up to that point ran directly next to the castle moat, was relocated 100 meters to the east and redesigned as an oak avenue. Then a bosket forest with a 180 × 50 meter mirror pond , the so-called swan pond , was created on the arable land there . This was surrounded by American linden trees and sculptures in the East Asian style. At the end of 1910, the work was completed and cost a total of 498,000 marks (approx. 2,900,000 euros).

Nordkirchen Castle before 1913, view from the south

Many of the changes to the palace area were supposed to be completed in 1911 at a long-distance automobile rally organized by the exclusive German Automobile Club , as this also stopped at Nordkirchen Palace, among other places. Because the event was under the patronage of Prince Heinrich of Prussia, it went down in history as the Prince Heinrich Journey.

But even after this major event, the palace underwent further, far-reaching changes, because Kaiser Wilhelm II had announced that he would set up his headquarters in the palace during the great imperial maneuvers in the Münsterland at the beginning of September 1914. The Duke feared space problems when accommodating the imperial entourage , and so in 1913/1914 he had the previously free-standing side wings of the palace connected to the Corps de Logis with pavilions in the neo-baroque style in order to create additional living space. The plans for this were provided by the director of the building authority of the Westphalian building association, Albert Josef Löfken. With this expansion, the palace became a little more similar to its original, the Palace of Versailles , and the nickname “Westphalian Versailles” has only been proven for the Nordkirchen palace complex since the Arenberg period.

At the same time, the farm buildings in the outer bailey also underwent extensive changes. In order to have bright front buildings for receptions and to accommodate automobiles for the imperial visit, the duke had the buildings almost completely demolished and new buildings built with mansard roofs . Only in the eastern building has a small part of the old structure been preserved. Before the new building, it served as a cattle shed, after which it housed car garages. The new west building now housed a large hall as a festival room.

The Oranienburg was also rebuilt. In the period from 1911 to 1913, it was given two side wings according to plans by the architect Ferdinand Kortmann. This created space for the expansion of horse breeding and for the accommodation of servants. The central hall on the ground floor served from then on as the ducal stables . Further alterations that the lord of the castle initiated in preparation for the imperial stay were the new construction of the buildings on the Vorwerkinsel and the complete overhaul of the Capeller Gate . But the planned visit of Wilhelm II was thwarted by the outbreak of the First World War , and all construction work came to a standstill.

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  The Oranienburg after the first side wing was built, 1912

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  Rebarockised north garden, 1911

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  The Capeller Tor

After the end of the war, the von Arenberg family gave up Nordkirchen Castle as a residence and withdrew to their Belgian possessions. Valuable tapestries from the large ballroom had already been brought to Brussels in 1914, and in April 1919 the most valuable pieces of the castle inventory were also removed. After the complex was briefly occupied by communists in May 1920, the castle was cleared at the end of 1920 and everything of value was gathered in the east wing. The son of the lord of the castle, Engelbert Karl von Arenberg, who was entrusted with the management of the German family estate, lived there, at least temporarily. Accordingly, the eastern pavilion is now called the Hereditary Prince Wing.

In 1921 the Reichspost rented the palace building in order to run a rest home there from 1922. The former pheasantry served as farm workers' accommodation until 1924, but was already in ruins in 1926, so that it was finally demolished in 1935. Since the 1920s, the parks were only used for the breeding of wild ponies and trotters, or for agricultural purposes, which was carried out in Oranienburg from 1923 onwards. The ground floor areas of the west garden were now used as hay meadows, the Boskette was used for forestry. The lack of horticultural maintenance in the garden areas gradually led to the decline of the parks.

At the beginning of the 1930s, the poster convalescent home was closed due to a lack of demand. Because of the low capacity utilization of the facility, there was a lack of money to properly maintain the castle buildings. Correspondingly, in June 1933 there was a need for repairs amounting to 40,000 Reichsmarks (approx. 184,000 euros).

The Reichspost followed the NSDAP as a new tenant. In 1933 she set up a Gauführerschule in the castle for the Gau Westfalen-Nord , which also took over the gardens and the agriculture of the complex on lease. In the presence of Gauleiter Walter Meyer and Oberpräsident Ferdinand von Lüninck , the school celebrated its opening on September 18, 1933. But rent and lease payments were slow and incomplete, so that the necessary maintenance work could not be carried out again. The lease was terminated on March 1, 1940. From that year a prisoner of war camp was located in the palace grounds.

The Second World War had hardly any impact on the castle, only the roof of the northeast corner pavilion was destroyed in an incendiary bomb . Used in 1945 by various museums in part as an art depot, the castle was spared looting after the end of the war because it was viewed as "Belgian property".

Property of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and use as a university of applied sciences

After the death of his father in 1949 Engelbert Karl von Arenberg became the new master of Nordkirchen. In the same year he rented the castle to the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , which set up its state finance school there. School operations started in May 1950. The rent was one symbolic mark per year. In return, the state undertook to take care of the structural maintenance of the castle building. At that time it was in a desolate state. Parts were so in danger of collapsing that the fire brigade was instructed not to enter the building in the event of a fire. Nevertheless, a fire that broke out in the chapel wing on February 3, 1953 , was quickly extinguished. With the exception of the palace chapel, the wing was completely rebuilt inside in 1957 and now houses a large, modern library with a reading room. The number of schoolchildren rose so quickly that more and more buildings in the facility were rented. In April 1958, the state acquired the castle island including the buildings located there and the eastern part of the park for 3.5 million marks (approx. 8,300,000 euros). The western part of the palace area remained at the Arenberg house.

Long-term repair and restoration work began on the castle, for the third section of which North Rhine-Westphalia alone provided 1.3 million marks (approx. 3,100,000 euros). The work included the rudimentary restoration of the Duchêne garden north of the main building and the new paving of the courtyard including the reconstruction of its baroque parter bed . The outer bailey buildings were converted into classrooms and the buildings on the Vorwerkinsel demolished and rebuilt in brick , in order to then be used to accommodate course participants. From 1970, the ground floor in the east wing was repaired and the west bridge, which was closed due to dilapidation, was reconstructed. In 1971 it received a counterpart on the east side, which connected the castle island with the cafeteria , swimming pool and sports hall, which was newly built in the former east garden from spring 1969 to October 1971 . For these new buildings, the swan pond was removed despite protests by the monument conservationists .

In the meantime, the accommodation options in the existing buildings at the beginning of the 1970s were no longer sufficient to cope with the growing number of students, and so by 1974 the state built a new, modern building complex with a large parking lot in the “Sundern” forest to the northwest of the castle as a residential and classroom center for lecturers and students. In August 1973, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia also bought the approximately 10-  hectare Westgarten including the Oranienburg , which was then subjected to extensive restoration until 1978. Since then, its large hall has served as a party and conference room as well as a concert hall. The Nordkirchen Castle Concerts take place there today. The other rooms have been used by the administration of the College of Finance since 1977.

The palace chapel was restored from 1973 to 1974, before restoration and reconstruction work began in 1975 in the representative rooms of the Corps de Logis. The partition walls that had been removed in 1910/1913 were pulled in again and the enfilade of the apartments restored. At the end of the 1970s, the orangery built by Johann Conrad Schlaun threatened to collapse. In order to save it from final ruin, it was completely renovated from 1986 and sold to private investors in the 1980s along with the area of ​​the former orangery garden south of it. Today it is used as a living room and exhibition space. The rooms in your vaulted cellar can be rented for celebrations.

In 1989, the restoration of Venus Island in the north garden began according to a park maintenance plan drawn up in 1981 . For the reconstruction, Achille Duchêne's original designs and old aerial photographs were used. The work on this lasted until 1991 and resulted in costs of around one million marks (approx. 900,000 euros), of which 210,000 marks (approx. 179,000 euros) were taken over by the European Community's cultural fund. Most recently, in 2004, North Rhine-Westphalia also bought the Tiergarten forest area, bordering the Westgarten to the south, with a total of over 1000 hectares of forest land. A total of 70 hectares of the castle park are now owned by the state.

In 2008, the castle served as the backdrop for the television film Krupp - Eine deutsche Familie , as no filming permission had been obtained for the recordings at the Krupp family's headquarters , the Villa Hügel in Essen .

description

Location map

The castle is located in the middle of a large forest and park area on the road from north to south churches. The castle itself stands on a rectangular island measuring 130 × 145 meters and is surrounded by a broad moat fed by a natural spring horizon . This is limited by an accessible dam, around which another ditch runs. The castle is thus surrounded by two moats. As in Ahaus, the corners of the island are emphasized by four small, octagonal pavilions, the crown of which is made of forge. One of them is used as a branch of the Nordkirchen registry office for weddings.

From the south - starting at Münsterstrasse - a straight avenue over 1200 meters long leads to the castle, crosses the Vorwerkinsel with two widely spaced, hook-shaped farm buildings, and then ends after two bridges on the castle island. The approximately 2.2 kilometers long central axis of the castle, which it started, runs through the central projection of the Corps de Logis to flow from the main building over the garden island into another avenue, which as a visual axis apparently continues the view into infinity and ends in Nordkirchen.

Castle building

architecture

Due to its magnificence and size as well as the division of the buildings and their allocation to each other, Nordkirchen Palace is nicknamed "Westphalian Versailles". The architecture of the castle is not based exclusively on French models, there are also echoes of the classicism of Dutch moated castles. These two traditions were combined in northern churches with typical Westphalian characteristics; red brick , light sandstone from the Baumberge and Ibbenbüren as well as Sauerland slate were used as building materials for the buildings.

The access to the castle runs axially towards the main building.

The castle is accessed from the south via two bridges one behind the other. The access runs axially towards the central building of the castle. The visitor passes through three gates: the south gate , the lion gate and the woman gate . The Löwentor gives access to the outer bailey area of ​​the castle island and was flanked on both sides by guard houses before the renovations in the 20th century. Its gateposts Tuscan order have fluted twin pilasters . On the pillars are lion sculptures, which bear the coat of arms of the Plettenberg and Westerholt-Lembeck families and were made in 1717 by the sculptor Rudolf Stengelberg. Today's single-storey utility buildings with mansard roofs were built in the 1910s in the neo-baroque style and replaced previous two-winged buildings with a half-hip roof .

A low wall, swinging to the south, separates the former outer bailey from the inner bailey. In the middle is the woman's gate , whose Tuscan gate pillars have twin columns. They are crowned by segments on which lie female figures with the family arms Plettenberg and Westerholt. They were also created by Rudolf Stengelberg in 1718. The pillars are flanked by two standing female sculptures, which personify virtue and honor. These are copies of figures made in 1914/1915, originally created by Johann Wilhelm Gröninger. Bridges in the west, north and east lead from the former inner castle area into the surrounding castle park. The Marstor is located on the western bridge . In the niches of its rusticated gateposts adorned with festoons stand statues of Mars and Ares supplied by Stengelberg . They are crowned by sculptural jewelry made of helmets, armor and military equipment. In August 2008, the Marstor was named Monument of the Month in Westphalia-Lippe by the LWL Office for Monument Preservation in Westphalia .

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  East wing with the palace chapel

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  Decor of the chapel portal

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  West wing

The center of the palace complex is the main building, consisting of a two-storey corps de logis with corner pavilions and slightly lower, angular side wings. These were previously free-standing, but since the Arenberg period they have been connected to the Corps de Logis by square pavilions, the so-called Hereditary Prince Wing and the Administration Wing. The building wings are all equipped with mansard roofs, sit directly on the lining walls of the castle moats and frame a U-shaped courtyard. The two side wings - called the servants' wing and the chapel wing - have rusticated brick pilasters and double curved gables with brick and stone structure. Its design follows French models and can be found in a similar form at the Ducal Palace of Dijon . The otherwise perfect symmetry of the complex is not fully maintained on the chapel wing , because in contrast to its counterpart, the servant wing , it has a roof turret with a bell. The portal to the castle chapel is flanked by pilasters. A stone tablet with the inscription hangs over its cornice

FRIDERICUS CHRISTIANUS
DG EPISC. et PRINC. MONAST.
CASTLE. STROMB. et DNUS in BORCKELO
LBa PLETTENBERG ex LENHAUSEN et
DNUS in NORTKIRCHEN FUNDAVIT AO 1705.

and reminds of the laying of the foundation stone for this wing. On the sides of the table, two figures represent John the Evangelist and Saint Anthony of Padua . On the servants' wing there is a sundial that is unique in Central Europe . It does not show the time as usual, but the number of half an hour after sunrise at the time of the equinox on March 21st and September 23rd at six o'clock. An eight means 10 o'clock (6 + 8 × 0.5).

Main building with central projection, south view

Two sphinxes line the semicircular outside staircase that leads to the arched main portal of the Corps de Logis in its three-axis central projection. There Ionic colossal pilasters carry an architrave that - like the window frames - is made of sandstone. Above that is an attic floor decorated with pilaster strips with a flat triangular gable. Its gable field shows two lions holding the Plettenberg coat of arms surrounded by acanthus ornaments . In front of the four attic pilasters are women's sculptures, which represent the four seasons. They were only installed there in the middle of the 19th century. Like the rest of the stone parts of the risalit, its current condition is the result of a renovation between 1963 and 1966. The central risalit on the garden side also has a Plettenberg coat of arms in the frontispiece . Under a coronet , it is of trombone playing Putten accompanied the scrolls and flower garlands hold. The garden plan itself is a little wider than the one on the courtyard side. Its attic storey is flanked on the side by weapon trophies and thus imitates the central projection in the marble courtyard of the Palace of Versailles.

Interior

Floor plan of the first floor in the Corps de Logis

The interior of the castle has largely preserved the 18th century furnishings. There are three different furnishing styles: In addition to the rural baroque from the early days of the palace, there is the splendid decoration that was realized under Prince-Bishop Friedrich Christian von Plettenberg, and the régence changes from the time of Ferdinand von Plettenberg. The rustic baroque style with rather simple furnishings can be found primarily on the upper floor of the Corps de Logis, which - with the exception of the east wing - was intended for the accommodation of guests. The western part of the ground floor was also reserved for visitors, in this case for princes and distinguished guests, while the entire east wing contained the representative living quarters of the lord of the castle and his family. The cellar with groin vaults used to house the kitchen, pantries, dining room for agricultural workers and servants as well as living rooms and bedrooms for maids and servants .

From the main portal, the visitor enters the vestibule with a gray-white slab floor. Its black marbled pillars on the wall are only made of wood and are hollow on the inside. The baroque stucco ceiling is by Antonio Rizzo (also written Ricco ) and shows two allegorical paintings by Johann Martin Pictorius , depicting the happiness and fame of the Plettenberg family. The two alabaster busts in this room show images of Ferdinand von Plettenberg and his wife Bernhardine von Westerholt zu Lembeck. They come from Johann Wilhelm Gröninger, who created them between 1721 and 1724. A large wooden staircase leads from the vestibule to the so-called ancestral gallery on the upper floor. It has a stucco-decorated beam ceiling and an oak lambris . The name of the room comes from the numerous portrait paintings on the walls. They show the Lords of Morrien and their wives.

A door in the north wall of the vestibule, above which the alliance coat of arms Plettenberg-Westerholt hangs, grants access to the heart of the splendidly furnished state rooms on the ground floor, the 14 × 9 meter large Jupiter Hall . This festive room, which is about 5.5 meters high, is now also called the Hercules Hall because the ceiling paintings depict the heroic deeds and apotheosis of Hercules . The stucco ceiling comes from Antonio Rizzo, the splendid stucco decoration on the tops of the black marble chimneys was created by Gasparo Molla in 1713. In the corner niches there used to be marble busts of the four seasons. Paintings by Johann Martin Pictorius, who used an unusual painting technique for them, hang above them. The sepia paintings on copper , heightened with gold, show scenes from Ovid's Metamorphoses . The most valuable pieces of furniture in this room used to be six tapestries from the Auwercx workshop in Brussels. They were ordered in 1709, delivered in 1711 and showed scenes from the Telemach story based on designs by Jan van Orley . Today the hall is used for lectures, concerts, seminars and festive occasions.

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  Vestibule, around 1910

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  Ancestral gallery , around 1910

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  Jupiter's Hall , 1891

To the west of the Jupiter Hall are the imperial rooms , which are named after the visits of Emperor Charles VI. and remember Franz Stephans I. in Nordkirchen. In the first room, the Kaiser-living room , the ceiling painting shows heaven-storming Titans , while the lintels are portraits of the Elector of Cologne. In the ceiling painting of the second room, which once served as a bedroom for high-ranking visitors, Prometheus brings people the fire. The bed that stood there can be seen today in the museum of Altena Castle . The east apartment to the east of the ballroom consists - like the west apartment with the imperial rooms  - of two rooms and an adjoining small cabinet . The first room is called the country wedding . The name goes back to tapestries with Dutch motifs that used to decorate the walls in this room. The painting of the stucco ceiling by Johann Martin Pictorius shows Ceres and Bacchus , two large portraits on the walls make the Elector Maximilian II. Emanuel of Bavaria and his wife Therese Kunigunde of Poland . The second room of this apartment is the motive of his ceiling painting Olymp room called . His supraports show four senses. In 1910, the castle owner at the time had the room combined into one large room with the peasant wedding by removing a partition . During the restoration work in the 1970s, the original condition was restored. The walls of all rooms, with the exception of the ballroom, were also covered with silk that had been woven according to old patterns.

To the east of the vestibule is the dining room with furnishings designed by Johann Conrad Schlaun in the Régence style. The stucco ceiling was designed by the Italian masters Carlo Pietro Morsegno and the Castelli brothers, who also created the stucco decorations for the Yellow Apartment in Augustusburg Castle. The paneling is made of oak and was previously painted white with gold decorations. Two large full-body portraits of the two Electors Joseph Clemens and Clemens August von Bayern are embedded in the panels of the north wall. The over-portals show sisters and brothers-in-law of Countess Bernhardine von Westerholt-Lembeck. On the west wall of the room hang two shell-shaped marble washbasins made by the Frenchman Rochedaux. The chandelier comes from Murano . To the east of the vestibule is the so-called small vestibule , which is also known as the coachman's cabinet . In addition to a stucco ceiling by Antonio Rizzo, it has a false paneling, which is rare in Westphalia, which is not made of wood but is painted on the wall.

From the small vestibule , the visitor reaches the ground floor rooms of the eastern pavilion, which adjoins the corps of logis, via the so-called mirror passage. The largest of these rooms is the Yellow Salon , which got its name from the yellow silk covering of its walls. The space was created by merging three rooms after removing their partition walls. This is also reflected in the design of the room. The southern third bears the creative signature of Johann Conrad Schlaun and has a richly decorated stucco ceiling by the plasterers Morsegno and Castelli as well as paneling in gold. The two northern thirds were redesigned in 1910 under the Duke of Arenberg. In Salon conferences, meetings and receptions will take place today. It is joined by the little Cupid's cabinet . Its stucco ceiling comes from the Italians Morsegno and Castelli and shows Amor with his attributes. Next to this cabinet is the small house chapel, also known as the chamber chapel . Originally this room served as an archive and has a cross-vaulted ceiling for fire protection reasons . It was transformed into a chapel under Schlaun, the stucco ceiling of which was also made by Carlo Pietro Morsegno and the Castelli brothers. The walls are clad with polished stucco marble. The former altar niche is flanked by Corinthian columns. It is empty today because the old altar is no longer there. Instead, on the altar wall - surrounded by a stucco frame made of flowers and putti - there is a probably contemporary intercession picture by Wolter von Plettenberg , the master of the Livonian masters . A second portrait of him hangs on the fireplace in the Green Salon , whose paneling and wall coverings are similar to those of the Yellow Salon . The Blue Salon with its rococo stucco ceiling used to be a bedroom. This is shown by the attached toilet room, also known as the bathroom cabinet . Because it was used as a bathroom in the 20th century, its walls are covered with Delft tiles up to knee height . The fresco above was only rediscovered and repaired during restoration work in the 1970s.

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  Imperial bedroom, before 1910

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  Olympzimmer ,
  around 1910–1912

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  Dining room, 1891

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  The Duchess of Arenberg in the Green Salon , 1906

In addition to the small chamber chapel, there is also the large chapel of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, after which the east wing is named. It is considered the most important high baroque work of this kind in Westphalia and is very popular with wedding couples. Around 500 weddings take place there every year. The church rises on a square floor plan and occupies the height of both storeys of the wing. The walls are divided vertically by pilasters. The hollow vault, lavishly stuccoed by Stefano Melchion, has a central ceiling painting with the Assumption of Mary as a motif. It creates the illusion of a high domed sky. Four oval corner medallions show the evangelists Matthew , Mark , Luke and John using the trompe-l'oeil technique . On the sides of the ceiling there are four pseudo-openings in the stucco with representations from the Lauretanian litany , which were applied directly to the ceiling using the casein technique. The ceiling paintings are all by Johann Martin Pictorius. Above the arch of the altar niche in the apse is the coat of arms of the Duchy of Münster with a Plettenberg heart shield . The altarpiece underneath with gilded rocaille in the style of neo-Rococo is a foundation of Count Nikolaus Franz Esterházy de Galántha from 1846; the original essay with a painting by Raphael was no longer available at that time. The crowning of the altar in the form of a Madonna was only purchased in 1976 and replaced a silver predecessor. The colorful leaded glazing of the apse windows with the coat of arms of the Esterházy and Plettenberg families also comes from the Esterházy period. The castle chapel's furnishings include two marble busts by Johann Wilhelm Gröninger from around 1710. They depict Mary mourning and Christ crowned with thorns.

Only a fraction of Ferdinand von Plettenberg's large art collection, which was housed in the castle at the time, can now be seen in the rooms. Plettenberg's collection included numerous tapestries, paintings and sculptures by well-known artists, including works by Raffael, Reni , Tintoretto , Tizian , Poussin , van Dyck , Rubens , Rembrandt and Jerôme Duquesnoy the Elder . Some items were sold in Rome and Amsterdam shortly after Plettenberg's death in 1737 in order to be able to repay the immense mortgage debt, while Clemens August von Plettenberg's widow Maria Anna von Galen took other items with her to the castle after her second marriage to Clemens August von Ketteler Harkotten in Sassenberg . After the bankruptcy of the Kettelerchen Gut Schwarzenraben , much of it ended up in the art trade in 1995/1999. The collection suffered another bloodletting shortly before the palace was sold in 1903, when a larger proportion of the objects still in existence were brought to Hungary. Almost the entire remaining stock was then carried away during the Arenberg period. The full-body portraits of Emperor Charles VI are among the few pieces remaining in Nordkirchen. and his wife Elisabeth Christine as well as a knee picture of Elector Karl Albrecht of Bavaria by Joseph Vivien . The two Gröninger busts of Ferdinand von Plettenberg and his wife as well as a statue of their son Franz Joseph in the stairwell are also part of the collection. On the other hand, the extremely valuable household items from the 18th century such as furniture, tableware, silverware and porcelain are no longer available .

A large part of the former library holdings is now in the Münster City Museum . The manuscript collection was sold in 1963 to the University and State Library of Münster , which also acquired the music collection in 1991 . The castle archive was donated to the State Museum in Münster as a gift from the Duke in 1923 and is now stored in the LWL archive office for Westphalia .

The cellar currently houses the Nordkirchen castle restaurant.

Castle Park

The palace buildings are surrounded by a palace park measuring around 172 hectares , which is an anchor garden of the "Gartenroute Münsterland" of the European Garden Heritage Network . In 1994 it was used as a backdrop for some scenes in the film Nich 'with Leo . Around 70 hectares of the park, including around 20 acres of water, are owned by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and are open to the public. Nordkirchen Castle Park has around 50,000 visitors a year. 23 avenues run through it with a total length of 7.5 kilometers. The horse chestnuts , linden trees , red beeches , maples and plane trees on these avenues often originate from the first plantings in the 18th century, but have been in poor condition in many places for decades and need to be replaced. This is now made possible by the “Wedding Trees” project, in which wedding couples who get married in the castle donate a tree and replace old, dilapidated trees in a joint planting campaign twice a year. The castle park is a habitat for numerous wild animals, including hares , partridges , pheasants , mallards , herons , cuckoos and nightingales .

Twelve gardeners employed by the College of Finance take care of the state-owned part of the park. Only a few parts of the once magnificent palace gardens of the 18th century, which were extremely famous by contemporaries, have been preserved or restored. For the future, however, after the park maintenance work developed for Nordkirchen, an at least partial reconstruction of the large western garden in its basic structures is planned.

East garden

The east garden of the castle consists mainly of forest, which is criss-crossed by numerous straight paths. This part of the garden can be reached from the castle island via the east bridge built in the early 1970s. Their appearance and shape were modeled on those of the baroque bridges. It leads to the modern cafeteria of the university of applied sciences and to the sports and swimming pool located a little further to the east on the area of ​​the former swan pond .

To the south of this building complex there is a starway with the Chinese fountain in the middle. The water basin of the fountain has a diameter of eleven meters and a fountain that is up to ten meters high. Because of the wide spread of water associated with it, it is only operated up to a maximum height of seven meters today. East Asian sculptures frame the fountain. They represent mandarins , samurais , Buddhas , but also simple farmers. They were made between 1910 and 1914 by the sculptor Reicks from Lüdinghausen and have been in their current location since 1972. They used to line the swan pond .

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  Old cafeteria with a work of art by Adolf Luther

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  Chinese fountain

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  Statue at the Chinese fountain

North garden with Venus Island

The most important area of ​​today's castle park consists of the Venus Island north of the castle . This part of the garden got its name because of the Venus sculptures that were erected there several times. It was reconstructed in its neo-baroque form from 1989 to 1991 and can be reached from the Corps de Logis via a terrace measuring around 10 × 50 meters , from which a wide open staircase leads to the somewhat lower 240 × 130 meter garden island. Its center is a broderie parterre with box trees , yew trees and privet trees cut into shape . To the west and east of it there are simpler lawn parterres, which are accompanied by 1.30 meter wide flower beds bordered with box trees. In total, around 59,000 boxwood plants can be found on Venus Island in 4470 meter-long borders and 280 m² of extensive planting. In between there are 1250 m² of surfaces and paths covered with gravel made of white Carrara marble . In order to achieve colourfulness in winter as well, additional garden areas are scattered with red porphyry gravel . The Venus island is at its eastern and western sides by tree-chestnut trees corridors, so-called Promenoirs limited to about a meter higher than the ground floor of the garden. Busts of Roman Caesars and philosophers stand along these dead straight paths .

On the north side of Venus Island is a mirror pond measuring around 67 × 183 meters, to which wide stairs lead down. To the north of the pond is a starway from which five straight forest paths - two of which are flanked by gate pillars - start into the surrounding forest area.

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  View over the Broderieparterre to the Corps de Logis

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  View over one of the lawn parterres to the main building

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  Figure ensemble on the north side

West garden with Oranienburg and orangery

Part of the west garden, in the middle the Oranienburg , at the upper edge of the picture the orangery

Only a few remains of the once magnificent west garden have survived today, including a water basin and a neo-baroque baluster parapet . The original layout of the garden can still be seen, although it is now used as a horse pasture. It was once the only large French-style baroque garden in Westphalia. In its area there are two roofless round towers made of brick, which mark the north-west and south-west corners of the predecessor complex designed by Gottfried Laurenz Pictorius. They were probably used as tea houses in the past. From 1725 the northern one served as access to the maze to the north of it. The garden area is adjoined to the south by the forested zoo , which is crossed by Südkirchener Allee.

The Oranienburg was originally built as an orangery, but shortly afterwards it was converted into a park castle. It is a two-storey brick building with mansard roofs, the six-axis middle section of which is flanked by two single-axis pavilions with rounded corners. The pavilions are also joined to the east and west by two-storey but lower side wings. Window and door frames are made of light-colored stone . The windows have alternately Verdachungen of segment and triangular gables . The central axis of the castle is particularly emphasized in the baroque tradition. The portal is crowned by a segmented gable, underneath in the broken architrave is the alliance coat of arms of Ferdinand von Plettenberg and his wife Bernhardine von Westerholt-Lembeck. The window above is flanked by Corinthian columns and is closed by a triangular pediment on which two female figures sit and hold festoons. On the first floor there is a ballroom designed by Peter Pictorius with two adjoining cabinets. It has a hollow ceiling decorated with stucco, the decor of which comes mainly from the Italian artist Rainaldi.

To the north-west of the Oranienburg is the very simple and functional orangery with the rounded building corners that are so typical of Johann Conrad Schlaun. It was his first building in Westphalia. One storey is closed off by a pan-covered hipped roof, which used to have dormers and chimneys. To the north of the building are two short side wings, which used to house the gardeners' apartments. The central axis of the building is emphasized by a risalit, the triangular gable of which shows the Plettenberg / Westerholt-Lembeck alliance coat of arms under a count's crown and with the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece in the gable field . To the west and east, the orangery used to be connected to low greenhouses with their own heating systems, but they are no longer preserved today.

The orangery garden served as a kitchen garden in the 19th and early 20th centuries and was planted with poplars for forestry purposes after the Second World War . In 2013, an expert opinion on the development of the west garden in line with historical requirements provided for the former appearance of the late baroque orangery garden to be restored with extensive care. The clearing of the poplar stock took place in the same year. Since the end of 2016, 170 wild apple and rowan trees have been growing there in a geometric planting grid, taking into account the historical room structure. In May 2018, the redesigned garden was selected by the LWL Monument Preservation, Landscape and Building Culture in Westphalia as Monument of the Month in Westphalia-Lippe.

The approximately 77 × 39 meter large pheasant area can still be recognized today through the remains of its surrounding wall. At that time it was supposed to offer protection from wind and weather as well as from animal predators. The former pheasantry building was demolished in 1935. It was a single-storey functional building, consisting of a central pavilion with a slate mansard roof and two gallery-like side wings in the shape of quarter circles, each of which had a pavilion on each end. The pheasant master lived in the middle pavilion, which showed an alliance coat of arms made by the sculptor Johann Bernhard Fix above the entrance from 1730, while aviaries were housed in the two wing buildings including the end pavilions . The initially open arched openings of the wings were later closed with windows.

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  Oranienburg

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  Orangery

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  Pheasantry, canceled in 1935

Garden sculptures

Gardens and avenues of the palace are richly decorated with sculptures. A total of 385 copies can be found in the palace gardens. The sculptures in the two chestnut avenues of the west garden are in their old place; the original order and arrangement of most of the others cannot be reconstructed and is therefore not original. Exceptions to this are the two Eberstatuen in the lawn parterres and a statuette of spring in the middle of the Broderieparterres on Venus Island . Like many sculptures in the north garden, they were set up in other places in the park after 1950 and returned to their original places with the reconstruction of Venus Island .

The first verifiable delivery of garden sculptures took place in 1721 by the Münster sculptor Johann Wilhelm Gröninger . The figures of gods designed by Gröninger based on ancient models were erected in 1725 according to plans by Johann Conrad Schlaun between the trees of the newly laid out chestnut avenues. These included images of Venus , Mars , Jupiter , Apollo , Bacchus as well as twelve vases and a statue of Hercules, which is the most important sculpture among the Gröninger creations. Other sculptures in the park come from the sculptors Panhoff, Johann Bernhard Fix and Johann Christoph Manskirsch , who created statues of Hercules, Mars, Apollo, Flora as well as two Venus figures and two satyrs.

Several figures in the area around the castle are now weathered or damaged, if not even completely lost. Most of the sculptures in better condition date from 1910 to 1919 after the gardens were restored in neo-baroque style. This is particularly true of the Venus Island area.

• Sculpture examples
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See also

• Nordkirchen music collection

literature

• Stefan Buske: Nordkirchen Castle (= DKV art guide . Issue 597). 3rd edition, Deutscher Kunstverlag , Munich / Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-422-02122-8 .
• Gerd Dethlefs: Baroque masterpiece. On the eventful history of Nordkirchen Castle and its residents . In: Yearbook Westphalia 2015. Westphalian home calendar . New episode Volume 69. Aschedorff, Münster 2014, ISSN  0724-0643 , pp. 143–152.
• Gerd Dethlefs (Ed.): Nordkirchen Castle . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-422-02304-8 (revised new edition of a publication by Karl Eugen Mummenhoff from the 1970s).
• Bernd Fischer: Moated castles in the Münsterland . 1st edition. DuMont, Cologne 1980, ISBN 3-7701-1195-8 , pp. 28-29, 33, 162-169.
• Rudi Jung: Nordkirchen Castle. Its history and art treasures . Rademann, Lüdinghausen 1980.
• Karl Eugen Mummenhoff : The castle north churches from 1918 to 1976. In: Westphalia. History, art and folklore books . Volume 56, 1978, ISSN  0043-4337 , pp. 146-173.
• Eberhard Gustav Neumann: Water castles in Westphalia . Troponwerke, Cologne 1965, no p.
• Wolfgang Felix Schmitt: Nordkirchen Castle. The "Versailles of Westphalia" . In: Wolfgang Felix Schmitt, Irene Philipp, Dirk Lau, Klaus Meyer: North Rhine-Westphalia (= fascination for castles and palaces ). Weltbild, Augsburg 2006, pp. 8–9, 12–19.
• F. Winter: Nordkirchen Castle. The largest moated castle in Westphalia . Ministry of Finance of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, undated 1971.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Nordkirchen  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Website for the castle from the University of Applied Sciences for Finance of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Entry by Stefan Eismann on Nordkirchen Castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
• Regional Association Westphalia-Lippe: Nordkirchen Castle Landscape in LWL GeodataKultur
• Information about the castle on the website of the municipality of Nordkirchen
• Castle concerts in northern churches
• Pictures of Nordkirchen Castle in the picture archive of the LWL media center for Westphalia
• 360 ° panorama picture of Nordkirchen Castle in the Westphalian Cultural Atlas (requires Flash player )

Footnotes

1. ^ WF Schmitt: Schmitt: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2006, p. 9.
2. ↑ B. Fischer: Wasserburgen im Münsterland , 1980, p. 166.
3. ↑ ^{a b} F. Winter: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1971, p. 4.
4. ↑ Information for those interested in studying at the University of Applied Sciences for Finance, Nordkirchen , accessed on August 3, 2016
5. ↑ S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 2.
6. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 268.
7. ↑ ^{a b} F. Winter: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1971, p. 1.
8. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 13.
9. ↑ S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 2.
10. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 13.
11. ↑ ^{a b} S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 3.
12. ^ ^{A b} Georg Dehio : North Rhine-Westphalia (= Handbook of German Art Monuments ). Volume 2: Westphalia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1969, p. 408.
13. ^ EG Neumann: Wasserburgen in Westfalen , 1965, o. P.
14. ↑ Rainer A. Krewerth: Castles that dream in the water . 8/9 Edition. Aschendorff, Münster 1980, ISBN 3-402-06028-0 , p. 129.
15. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 14.
16. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 25.
17. ↑ G. Dethlefs: Meisterwerk des Barock , 2014, p. 145.
18. ↑ ^{a b} S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 4.
19. ^ WF Schmit: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2006, p. 14.
20. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 29.
21. ↑ S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 8.
22. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 51.
23. ^ WF Schmitt: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2006, p. 16.
24. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 20.
25. ↑ G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 59.
26. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 79.
27. ↑ ^{a b} S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 12.
28. ↑ G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 70.
29. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 112.
30. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 178.
31. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 161.
32. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe: Schlosslandschaft Nordkirchen in LWL-GeodatenKultur, accessed on February 4, 2015.
33. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 170.
34. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 156.
35. ↑ S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 20.
36. ↑ G. Dethlefs: Meisterwerk des Barock , 2014, p. 147.
37. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 219.
38. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 218.
39. ↑ G. Dethlefs: Meisterwerk des Barock , 2014, p. 143.
40. ↑ Erich Tönspeterotto, Birgit Cremers-Schiemann: Castles in the Münsterland . Artcolor, Hamminkeln 1994, ISBN 3-89261-125-4 , p. 143.
41. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 227.
42. ↑ Alexander Duncker (ed.): The rural residences, castles and residences of the knightly landowners in the Prussian monarchy . Volume 2. Duncker, Berlin 1860, no p.
43. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 229.
44. ^ Information on the holdings of the Maria Esterházy estate of the Nordkirchen Archives in the LWL Archives Office for Westphalia , accessed on January 29, 2015.
45. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 8.
46. ↑ ^{a b c} G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 234.
47. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 239.
48. ^ Rudolf Martin: Yearbook of the wealth and income of the millionaires in the Kingdom of Prussia (= yearbook of the wealth and income of the millionaires in Germany . Volume 19). Berlin 1913.
49. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 240.
50. ^ ^{A b} Georg Dehio: North Rhine-Westphalia (= Handbook of German Art Monuments ). Volume 2: Westphalia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1969, p. 411.
51. ↑ G. Dethlefs: Meisterwerk des Barock , 2014, p. 150.
52. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 240.
53. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 30.
54. ↑ Rose and Gustav Wörner: The restoration of Venus Island in the park of Nordkirchen Castle . In: Kreisheimatverein Coesfeld (Ed.): Kreis Coesfeld - Yearbook 1992 . Fleißig, Coesfeld 1992, p. 23.
55. ↑ Rose Wörner : Nordkirchen Castle Park - ornament and epitome of Westphalian garden culture . In: Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (Hrsg.): 1st symposium on garden art in Westphalia-Lippe in Bad Driburg on July 5th, 2002. Garden culture as a quality feature of a region (= contributions to landscape and building culture in Westphalia-Lippe . Issue 4) . LWL, Münster 2004, ISSN  1617-8270 , p. 66.
56. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 249.
57. ↑ Hildegard Schlutius: The romantic park of the Esterhazys (= The history of the palace park Nordkirchen . Part II). In: Heimatverein der Gemeinde Nordkirchen (Ed.): Annual history booklet 2010 . Heimatverein Nordkirchen, Nordkirchen 2010, p. 75.
58. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 246.
59. ^ WF Schmitt: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2006, p. 17.
60. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 258.
61. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 259.
62. ↑ ^{a b c} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 260.
63. ↑ ^{a b c} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 265.
64. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 261.
65. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 72.
66. ↑ News about German castles and palaces . In: Castles and Palaces . Volume 2, No. 2, 1961, ISSN  0007-6201 , p. 64, doi: 10.11588 / bus.1961.2.41139 .
67. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 73.
68. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 267.
69. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 264.
70. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 77.
71. ↑ Rose Wörner: Nordkirchen Castle Park - ornament and epitome of Westphalian garden culture . In: Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (Hrsg.): 1st symposium on garden art in Westphalia-Lippe in Bad Driburg on July 5th, 2002. Garden culture as a quality feature of a region (= contributions to landscape and building culture in Westphalia-Lippe . Issue 4) . LWL, Münster 2004, ISSN  1617-8270 , p. 65.
72. ↑ ^{a b} Hildegard Schlutius: The romantic park of the Esterhazys (= The history of the castle park Nordkirchen . Part II). In: Heimatverein der Gemeinde Nordkirchen (Ed.): Annual history booklet 2010 . Heimatverein Nordkirchen, Nordkirchen 2010, p. 80.
73. ↑ Information according to the information on the castle park on the castle website . The sizes given in printed publications vary between 70 and 72 hectares.
74. ↑ District government Münster: Annual review . Eigenverlag, Münster 2008, p. 94 ( PDF ( Memento of the original dated December 7, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note .; 9.3 MB). 
75. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Information according to the online cadastral map for Nordkirchen
76. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 146.
77. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 76.
78. ↑ Ulrich Reinke: Monument of the Month (2008). Monument of the month August 2008: The Marstor of Nordkirchen Castle. Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe , archived from the original on May 21, 2011 ; accessed on May 15, 2018 . 
79. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Information about the castle on the website of the Heimatverein Nordkirchen , accessed on February 5, 2015.
80. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 61.
81. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 107.
82. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 88.
83. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 38.
84. ↑ S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 14.
85. ↑ S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 10.
86. ↑ ^{a b} F. Winter: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1971, p. 10.
87. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 94.
88. ↑ S. Buske: Schloss Nordkirchen , 2008, p. 15.
89. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 55.
90. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 42.
91. ^ F. Winter: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1971, p. 11.
92. ↑ ^{a b c d} R. Jung: Nordkirchen Castle , 1980, p. 45.
93. ^ F. Winter: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1971, p. 12.
94. ↑ ^{a b} F. Winter: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1971, p. 15.
95. ↑ ^{a b} F. Winter: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1971, p. 17.
96. ^ Georg Dehio: North Rhine-Westphalia (= Handbook of German Art Monuments ). Volume 2: Westphalia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1969, p. 412.
97. ↑ Information about the castle at gaerten-in-westfalen.de , accessed on February 12, 2014.
98. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 52.
99. ↑ ^{a b c} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 87.
100. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 53.
101. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 189.
102. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 208.
103. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 210.
104. ↑ ^{a b c} R. Jung: Nordkirchen Castle , 1980, p. 31.
105. ↑ ^{a b c d} Information about the park on the castle website , accessed on February 5, 2015.
106. ^ ^{A b} Uwe Siekmann: Nordkirchen - Castle Park . In: Preservation of monuments in Westphalia-Lippe. Volume 14, No. 1, 2008, ISSN  0947-8299 , p. 28 ( PDF ; 2 MB).
107. ^ R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 70.
108. ↑ Hildegard Schlutius: The romantic park of the Esterhazys (= The history of the palace park Nordkirchen . Part II). In: Heimatverein der Gemeinde Nordkirchen (Ed.): Annual history booklet 2010 . Heimatverein Nordkirchen, Nordkirchen 2010, p. 82.
109. ↑ ^{a b} R. Jung: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1980, p. 33.
110. ↑ Rose Wörner: Nordkirchen Castle Park - ornament and epitome of Westphalian garden culture . In: Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (Hrsg.): 1st symposium on garden art in Westphalia-Lippe in Bad Driburg on July 5th, 2002. Garden culture as a quality feature of a region (= contributions to landscape and building culture in Westphalia-Lippe . Issue 4) . LWL, Münster 2004, ISSN  1617-8270 , p. 61.
111. ↑ ^{a b c d} Rose and Gustav Wörner: The restoration of Venus Island in the park of Nordkirchen Castle . In: Kreisheimatverein Coesfeld (Ed.): Kreis Coesfeld - Yearbook 1992 . Fleißig, Coesfeld 1992, p. 30.
112. ↑ Rose and Gustav Wörner: The restoration of Venus Island in the park of Nordkirchen Castle . In: Kreisheimatverein Coesfeld (Ed.): Kreis Coesfeld - Yearbook 1992 . Fleißig, Coesfeld 1992, p. 29.
113. ↑ ^{a b} G. Dethlefs (ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 174.
114. ↑ B. Fischer: Wasserburgen im Münsterland , 1980, p. 29.
115. ↑ Marcus Weiß: Monument of the Month: Orangery garden in Nordkirchen Castle Park is getting its horticultural design back. LWL monument preservation, landscape and building culture in Westphalia , accessed on June 3, 2018 . 
116. ↑ G. Dethlefs (Ed.): Schloss Nordkirchen , 2012, p. 171.
117. ^ KE Mummenhoff: Nordkirchen Castle (= Westphalian art ). 2nd Edition. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich [a. a] 1979, ISBN 3-422-00115-8 , p. 84.
118. ↑ Rose and Gustav Wörner: The restoration of Venus Island in the park of Nordkirchen Castle . In: Kreisheimatverein Coesfeld (Ed.): Kreis Coesfeld - Yearbook 1992 . Fleißig, Coesfeld 1992, p. 28.
119. ^ F. Winter: Schloss Nordkirchen , 1971, p. 19.

Coordinates: 51 ° 43 ′ 57.5 ″  N , 7 ° 32 ′ 1.3 ″  E