Castle knowledge
The Wissen Castle is a moated castle southeast of Weeze in the Kleve district on the left bank of the Niers . For 500 years it has been the ancestral home of the von Loë family and one of the most famous aristocratic residences on the Lower Rhine .
Built in the 14th century as a residential tower , the castle has been changed several times in the course of its history to suit the taste of the time. After an initial renovation in the 16th century in the style of the Dutch Renaissance , a second redesign followed during the Baroque . Between 1876 and 1886, the then lord of the castle had the entire complex changed and expanded in a neo-Gothic style under the direction of Vincenz Statz . The last structural redesign took place in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the heavily damaged and outdated buildings were renovated and modernized inside.
description
The palace complex , surrounded by a moat about one meter deep, consists of an outer bailey , an inner bailey , a mill and a large park with an orangery .
Outer bailey
The core of the three-winged outer bailey goes back to the 14th century. The Gothic north and west facades of the building complex still testify to this today . The inner courtyard can be entered via its stone arch bridge in the east. Both the north and west wings of the brick bailey have a cantilevered pointed arch frieze at three-quarters height . On the top floor of the northern wing there is a covered battlement with loopholes and thus still testifies to the fortitude of the former castle . In the middle of the west wing you can still clearly see the old castle gate , which was moved to its current position in the east before 1550. On both sides of the pointed arch portal there are two bay-like , semicircular turrets that rest on pointed arched pendants . The facade facing the courtyard was designed in 1905, as evidenced by wall anchors in the form of this year. The designs for this came from the architect Hermann Schaedtler. On this side of the courtyard you can find the coat of arms of Friedrich Leopold von Loës and his wife Paula von Korff called Schmising on the portal .
With the so-called thick tower , the outer bailey in Wissen has one of the oldest parts of the entire complex on its northwest corner. However, the round fortified tower with a clear width of 4.60 meters and its curved conical roof is mostly the result of a reconstruction from the 19th century.
The outer bailey used to house horse stables, a grain store and shed for carriages. At the beginning of the 19th century it was also used as a cattle shed.
Core castle
There are two buildings in the inner castle area: the stately main house and a castle chapel .
Main house
The simple, two-winged main house in the Baroque style has brickwork and is covered by a hipped roof. In essence, it dates back to the 14th century. The oldest structure can be found in its south wing, which has walls two meters thick in the base area. The wing measures around 23 by 11 meters and is divided into two unequally large rooms by a partition. The second wing was added to the west side at a right angle early on, before two more wings were added, which are no longer preserved today.
Fragments of an ornamentally decorated fireplace made by the sculptor Arnt von Tricht from Kalkar have survived from the Renaissance period . He had a frieze depicting Franz von Loë and his wife Sophia von Nesselrode. In addition, stucco ceilings and paneling have been preserved in the hall of the west wing , which probably date from around 1766. The stucco decorations of a salon could have been made by the plasterer Petrus Nicolaas Gagini based on designs by Jakob Couvens .
Castle chapel
The chapel, designed by the Cologne architect Vincenz Statz and built between 1874 and 1878, is an important neo-Gothic work on the Lower Rhine. The exterior is simply executed in regional brick construction. The completely preserved interior of the two-story chapel interior is remarkable. The iconography and furnishings are related to the Marian patronage , such as the painting of the semicircular apse , the Marian chandelier in the central vaulted yoke and the three large round windows in the gallery . The vault is supported by pillars made of French limestone worn. The precious windows were made by Hardman & Co. in Birmingham , one of the world's leading manufacturers of glass windows. The stained glass shows Jesus on the cross and the Annunciation in the west and Mary after the vision of the secret revelation in the east.
The draft in copper and brass executed altar is also by Vincenz Statz, execution was at the Cologne goldsmith Franz deserts. The representations on the antependium show the sacrifices of the old covenant, which foreshadow the sacrifice of Christ: Abraham, who wanted to sacrifice his son, and Melchizedech, who sacrificed bread and wine. On the tabernacle doors angels are depicted, which were made with enamel work . The risen Christ can be seen on the back wall, flanked by the twelve apostles .
The central apse painting (oil on copper) was designed by the Nazarene painter Edward von Steinle and executed in 1866 by his pupil Paul Franz Maria Guillery . It shows the namesake of the lord of the castle and his children. In the curve above the enthroned Virgin Mary is shown with the baby Jesus.
The organ in the castle chapel was built in 1882 by the organ builder Rütter from Kevelaer. The abrasive loading -instrument has eight registers on a manual work (Cf 3 : Praestant 8 ', Salicional 8', Fugara 8 ', Flute 4', Viola 4 ', Cornett I-III 2 2 / 3 ') and the pedal (Cf 1 : Bourdon 16 ', Gedackt 8'). The actions are mechanical.
The Wissen Chapel is not only important from an art-historical perspective, but also as a manifesto of Catholicism in the time of the Kulturkampf . Its construction as a private building for church use was viewed with suspicion by the Berlin ministry and the royal government in Düsseldorf. It was feared that it could de facto be a public house of worship that the Catholic population in the area should be available for worship. At the height of Bismarck's Kulturkampf Laws, the building could only be implemented by tactical means against state resistance.
Castle mill and park
To the north of the castle island, on an old arm of the river Niers, is the Wissen castle mill . The brick building is a pile grate foundation on oak piles and dates from 1545. The coat of arms of its builder Franz von Loë and his wife Sophia von Nesselrode hangs above its entrance . The regulation of the Niers in the 1930s caused the water level to drop and the piles of the mill ground began to rot, putting the building in danger of collapsing. Today the building is secured and serves as a meeting and breakfast room for the hotel's hotel operations.
A palace park already existed in the 17th century. At that time it consisted of symmetrically laid out gardens to the west and east of the castle island and large orchards. Today's large trees and some exotic trees come from plantings from the 19th century.
history
Residents and owners
In a document dated January 28, 1372, Wissen Castle was mentioned for the first time, because in that year Count Adolf von Kleve issued a letter of protection for the parish of Weeze, but the house of the bailiff of Goch , Heinrich von der Straeten, ( heren Henrix hues end Guede van der Straten ) excepted. The von der Straeten family, who came from Flanders , received Wissen as a fief of the Xanten Viktorstift and chose it as their ancestral home. In the same year the count also took the house of Wissen under his protection.
A chapel in the castle complex at that time is documented as early as 1401, because in that year the Cologne auxiliary bishop Konrad von Köln, Bishop of Venecompone, consecrated the altar there. Around 1440, Johann von der Straeten, the last male representative of the family, died out, and his daughter Anna brought Schloss Wissen with her into her marriage to the Geldrian hereditary steward Johann von Broeckhuysen. After his death on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land , his widow continued to run the house alone until 1461, before she sold it to Johann von Loë for 9,450 Oberland Rhenish guilders that year. He bought the system as a wedding present for his son Wessel and his bride Lyssbeth von Beerenbrock.
Duke Johann II von Kleve raised the Wissen house with outer bailey, mills, tree bones and all accessories in 1497 as thanks for the loyal service of Wessel von Loë to an independent rule , which however became a Klevian fief. The associated jurisdiction is still documented today by the dungeon in the thick tower of the outer bailey. Wessel's son This (Matthias) inherited the property from his eldest son Franz. After his death in 1579, the property, which had meanwhile been converted into a castle, could not be passed on to a son because the couple's only son had died in 1572. Franz's widow Sophia von Nesselrode therefore managed the management of the house for her underage grandson Wessel until he was old enough in 1591 to take over his inheritance. Wessel von Loë made a name for himself as an art lover because he set up a collection of antiquities in the castle after an educational trip to France and Italy. In 1609 he bought the castle and the associated mill from the feudal bond with Xanten.
Wessel's son Degenhard Bertram from his marriage to Sophia Haes von Konradsheim in 1601 was raised to the baron status. In 1808, Edmund von Loë even received the title of Count of the French Empire ( Comte de l'Empire in French ). Friedrich Karl von Loë was raised to the Prussian count status in 1840.
In 1945, shortly before the end of the war, Countess Isabelle von Loë sheltered numerous refugees in the castle. On the evening of March 1, 1945, the last German paratroopers withdrew and blew up the Niers Bridge southeast of the castle.
The von Loë family still owns the castle and is now the 17th generation to use it as a residence.
Building history
In the document from 1372, a bailey is mentioned in addition to the core castle, which indicates the impressive size of the complex at that time. The system was probably built shortly before. It is assumed that today's Schloss Wissen developed from a tower hill castle . This is indicated by the thick masonry of the main house, which probably grew out of a three-storey, house-like residential tower. Two facades of the outer bailey and the base of the thick tower can be seen as witnesses to the 14th century .
The palace complex has been fundamentally rebuilt and expanded four times over the centuries, each time according to the taste of the time.
Probably before 1500, the main house was expanded by adding three wings to form a closed four-wing complex with a small inner courtyard and corner control room . Before 1550, a massive tower was built in the area of today's castle park, but it is no longer preserved. An orangery stands in its place today. Around 1550, after his marriage to Sophia von Nesselrode, Franz von Loë had the castle rebuilt in the style of the early Dutch Renaissance and its exterior redesigned with numerous stepped gables and oriel turrets.
After Hessian troops plundered the castle in the Thirty Years' War under Captain Feldtfenger in 1641 , Johann Adolpf von Loë and his wife Maria Anna von Wachtendonk had the outer bailey redesigned in the Baroque style from 1739. The east wing was rebuilt with today's steep gable roof and the baroque gate was built. The coats of arms of their builders can be found above the gate passage. The wooden drawbridge leading to it was replaced by a stone arch bridge at the same time. The construction work was finished after 1740.
Between 1760 and 1770 the complex was converted into a simple, baroque country palace based on the French model. The builders were Franz Karl von Loë and his wife Alexandrine, née Countess von Hor (r) ion. All architectural elements of the 16th century were removed and the brickwork was given a white plaster . In addition, the buildings were provided with a mansard roof and a large part of the parks that are still preserved today were laid out. The lord of the castle had the tower there from the 16th century demolished. During the work, the thick tower of the outer bailey was also removed to a height of about twelve meters. In 1766 a new house chapel was consecrated.
Under Count Maximilian August von Loë and his wife Therese, née Countess von Arco- Zinneberg, architecture was returned to the model of the Middle Ages . In the years 1876 to 1886, under the direction of the Cologne builder Vincenz von Statz, the castle was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style: the white plaster was removed and the buildings were given a new saddle roof and stepped gables. The thick tower was also rebuilt according to old drawings. A neo-Gothic chapel was also built during the reconstruction of the palace complex. Eduard von Steinle, who was Statz's friend, was commissioned with the painting. In contrast to the previous house chapel, which from then on served as a sacristy , this new chapel was also available to the population from the area. The neo-Gothic redesign came to an end under Friedrich von Loë and his wife Paula.
In the 19th century the palace park was expanded to its present size. The Wissen castle owes its current form to a comprehensive renovation between 1969 and 1973 by Fritz Paul von Loë and his wife Inez von Boeselager . Although the buildings were not destroyed by direct bomb hits during the Second World War , fragments of bombs and grenade fragments had badly damaged the roofs of the complex. The result was severe water damage on the upper floors. In addition, there were water and wall damage on the lower floors and a general aging of the building fabric. In addition, most of the joists on the ceilings were rotten. The lack of any modern installations was another reason why the castle buildings had not been inhabited since 1957. A renovation was therefore inevitable. In the course of this, the war damage was repaired, water and electrical installations were carried out and work began on restoring the three historic halls of the castle . During the renovation, the east wing had to be removed except for the remains of the defensive wall , the northern transverse wing, the so-called Nierskabinett - a bay window on the southeast side - and the garden terrace. In addition, the neo-Gothic architectural features were dismantled with the exception of the castle chapel. The main house was raised by a lower storey and then completed with a hipped roof.
Todays use
Today the castle not only serves as the owner's apartment, but also houses a forestry and farm. In the outer bailey there are - besides other apartments - studios and workshops.
Although Wissen Castle is privately owned, the inner courtyard is freely accessible to visitors. However, the lords of the castle ask for consideration for the privacy of the residents.
In the former servants' houses , the so-called "Boye" (pronounced Buje), several hotel rooms and apartments have been set up that can be rented by overnight guests.
literature
- Paul Clemen (ed.): The art monuments of the district of Geldern (= The art monuments of the Rhine province . Volume 1, section 2). L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1891, pp. 103-117 ( digitized version ).
- Wolfgang Cortjaens: Kulturkampf in the guise of Gothic. The Wissen Castle Chapel 1874–1878 . In: Historical Association for Geldern and the Surrounding Area (ed.): Geldrischer Heimatkalender 2002 . Geldern 2001, pp. 214–222.
- Ludger Fischer: The most beautiful palaces and castles on the Lower Rhine. Wartberg, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2004, ISBN 3-8313-1326-1 , pp. 78-79.
- Stefan Frankewitz : The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 1st edition. Boss, Goch 2011, ISBN 978-3-941559-13-4 , pp. 511-530.
- Harald Herzog: Rhenish castle buildings in the 19th century . Bonn 1981, ISBN 3-7927-0585-0 , pp. 54-55.
- Adolf Kaul: Geldrische castles, palaces and mansions. Butzon & Bercker, Kevelaer 1976, ISBN 3-7666-8952-5 , pp. 137-144.
- Gregor Spor, Ele Beuthner: How nice to dream away here. Castles on the Lower Rhine . Verlag Peter Pomp, Bottrop, Essen 2001, ISBN 3-89355-228-6 , pp. 154-155.
- Jens Wroblewski, André Wemmers: Theiss-Burgenführer Niederrhein . Konrad Theiss , Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1612-6 , pp. 150-151 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 511.
- ↑ a b c L. Fischer: The most beautiful palaces and fortresses on the Lower Rhine. 2004, p. 78.
- ↑ Robert Janke, Harald Herzog: Castles and palaces in the Rhineland. Greven, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-7743-0368-1 , p. 148.
- ↑ a b c d S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 523.
- ↑ a b J. Wroblewski, A. Wemmers: Theiss-Burgenführer Niederrhein. 2001, p. 150.
- ^ S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 5247.
- ↑ a b c d S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 515.
- ^ Richard Klapheck : The architecture on the Lower Rhine. Volume 2. Art Association for the Rhineland and Westphalia, Düsseldorf 1916, p. 190 ( digitized version ).
- ↑ The chapel at Wissen Castle has been completely restored on the website of the German Foundation for Monument Protection , accessed on October 7, 2015.
- ↑ Information about the organ on the website of the organ building company Scholz , accessed on October 7, 2015.
- ↑ W. Cortjaens, Kulturkampf im Gewand der Gotik , in: Geldrischer Heimatkalender 2002 , pp. 214–222.
- ^ S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 527.
- ^ S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 528.
- ↑ G. Spor, E. Beuthner: How nice to dream away here. Castles on the Lower Rhine . 2001, p. 154.
- ^ A b S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 518.
- ↑ Martin Willing: Bloody Winter , Chapter 9 , accessed October 7, 2015.
- ^ S. Frankewitz: The Lower Rhine and its castles, palaces, mansions on the Niers. 2011, p. 512.
Coordinates: 51 ° 36 ′ 52 ″ N , 6 ° 13 ′ 18 ″ E