Oberhofen Castle

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Oberhofen Castle (2014)
Diebold von Erlach, co-lord of Oberhofen (1616)

The Oberhofen Castle is a castle in the town of Oberhofen on Lake Thun in the canton of Bern , Switzerland .

history

The earliest known owner of the Oberhofen estate is Freiherr Werner von Oberhofen, whose daughter Ita was married to Freiherr Walther (II.) Von Eschenbach . The Eschenbach had to cede Oberhofen and Unspunnen to Albrecht (I.) von Habsburg . Albrecht left Oberhofen a fiefdom to his son Leopold I von Habsburg . Leopold pledged Oberhofen in 1318 to Count Otto von Strassberg, who pledged the fief to Baron Johann von Weissenburg. In 1342 knight Johannes von Hallwyl received Oberhofen as a pledge. The Oberhofen pledge was divided into various purchases. After the Battle of Sempach in 1386, the Oberhofen fief went from Count Friedrich von Zollern to the city ​​of Bern .

Bern gave Oberhofen now as a fief to three quarters of the wealthy Schultheissen Ludwig von Seftigen , and a quarter of his brother Nicholas I. of Scharnachthal († around 1414). When the von Seftigen family died out, the full dominion of Oberhofen came to the Scharnachthal. Niklaus III. von Scharnachthal (1519–1590), the last of his line, bequeathed the man fief to his nephews Hans, Diebold, Samuel and Albrecht von Erlach . The brothers were inherited by the Bernese mayor Franz Ludwig von Erlach . After his death, Oberhofen fell back to the Republic of Bern in 1652, despite trials and objections from the deceased's widow. The fiefdom was administered as a bailiff in the future . The bailiffs resided in Oberhofen until spring 1798.

In 1801 the castle ownership was sold to the Thun tourism promoter Johann Peter Knechtenhofer (1762–1812). Through an increase, the property went to Knechtenhofer's son Johann Jakob and his cousin Johann Friedrich Knechtenhofer in 1829. Friedrich von Lerber, governor of Interlaken, bought Oberhofen Castle from the Knechtenhofer family in 1830. His widow, Luise Adelheid Lerber, in turn, sold the property in 1844 for 50,000 francs to the Neuchâtel-Prussian Counts Friedrich von Pourtalès (1779–1861) and Albert von Pourtalès (1812–1861). The latter married Anna von Bethmann-Hollweg (1827-1892), the daughter of Moritz August von Bethmann-Hollweg . Countess Anna von Portalès bequeathed the castle to her second-born daughter Helene von Pourtalès (1849–1940), married to Ferdinand Graf von Harrach (1832–1915). In 1920 Countess Harrach left the castle property to her son Hans Albrecht von Harrach (1873–1963). As early as 1925, however, he was forced to sell Oberhofen Castle. The buyer was the American lawyer William Maul Measey (1875-1967). In 1940 he established the Oberhofen Castle Foundation, which now owned the castle and park. Measey handed the foundation over to the Bernisches Historisches Museum in 1952 , then under the direction of Michael Stettler . The museum opened Oberhofen Castle in 1954 as a branch. Since 2009, the Oberhofen Castle Foundation has again been independent of the Bern Historical Museum.

construction

Oberhofen Castle, dining room (2013)

Originally from the 12th century keep is surrounded by the late medieval palace . The castle chapel was consecrated in 1473. The sea tower and access bridge were removed after 1680. The residential wing to the west was added in the 18th century. Between 1849 and 1852 the castle was redesigned in neo-Gothic style according to plans by Neuchâtel James Colin . The new tower facade, the stair tower to the chapel, corner towers, clock turrets, roof structures, battlements, the extensive dependency buildings and the reconstruction of the lake tower were the main additions of the 19th century.

Museum operation

Oberhofen Castle, servants' wing (2019)

In the permanent exhibition Always at your service on the second floor of the castle, visitors can immerse themselves in the world of the servants of the Harrach-Pourtalès family. The exhibition takes a look into the world of servants and lets the audience participate in situations that have taken place in the corridors and behind the doors. The permanent exhibition Castle Rooms and Castle Dreams on the first floor of the castle guides the visitor through the 800-year history of the property based on the former castle residents.

swell

literature

  • Richard Arioli: Oberhofen Castle Park. (Swiss Art Guide, No. 403). Ed. Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 1986, ISBN 3-85782-403-4 .
  • Hermann von Fischer : Oberhofen Castle on Lake Thun. Society for Swiss Art History, Bern 1972.
  • Rosmarie Hess: Oberhofen Castle on Lake Thun. (Swiss Art Guide, No. 558) Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 1994, ISBN 3-85782-558-8 .
  • Vera Heuberger: "Masked ball" of architecture. Historicist residential buildings and interiors from the 19th century on Lake Thun. In: Art + Architecture in Switzerland, vol. 51 (2000), pp. 32–42. doi: 10.5169 / seals-394147
  • Rolf Jordi: Oberhofen Castle, the rediscovery of a piece of history. Self-published, Thun 2004, ISBN 3-00-014689-X .
  • Wolf Maync: Bernese residential castles. Your owner history , Bern 1979.
  • Michael Stettler: Bernerlob. Attempts at the local tradition , Bern 1963.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Oberhofen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Maync 1979, p. 116.
  2. ↑ Jordi 2004, p. 15.
  3. ↑ Bern State Archives, FA von Hallwyl, copies, 1342.04.27 (b)
  4. ↑ Bern State Archives, CI a (documents) Interlaken February 20, 1397 .
  5. ↑ Jordi 2004, pp. 18ff.
  6. ↑ Maync 1979, p. 118.
  7. ↑ Jordi 2004, p. 24.
  8. ↑ Maync 1979, p. 118.
  9. ↑ Jordi 2004, p. 30.
  10. ↑ Maync 1979, p. 147.
  11. ↑ Stettler 1963, p. 29.
  12. ↑ Stettler 1963, p. 29.
  13. ↑ von Fischer 1972, p. 4.
  14. ↑ von Fischer 1972, p. 4.
  15. ↑ von Fischer 1972, p. 4.
  16. ↑ von Fischer 1972, p. 5.

Coordinates: 46 ° 43 ′ 47 "  N , 7 ° 40 ′ 7"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and seventeen thousand five hundred seventy-nine  /  175417