Waldsassen Abbey Castle

Waldsassen Abbey Castle

The Abbey Castle Waldsassen is located in the Upper Palatinate town of Waldsassen in the Tirschenreuth district and is part of the Waldsassen Monastery .

history

Copper engraving of the Waldsassen Monastery by Johann Ulrich Krauß from the Churbaier Atlas by Anton Wilhelm Ertl from 1687

The first fortifications of the monastery probably already existed before the monastery was founded, as this - as reported in the Egerische Chronik des Pankraz Engelhart of 1560 - emerged from a fort. The news comes from the time of Abbot John IV that he had "the tower at the old abbey built with many necessary workshops". The Waldsassen monastery was sacked in 1430 by the Bohemian nobleman Hynko Kruschina von Schwanberg and in 1433 by the Moravian nobleman Jakaubek von Wrschesowitz , who sided with the Taborites . Abbot Johann VI. had a defensive wall built around the monastery and the "New Abbey". His successor Nicholas IV is considered to have completed this building. The defensive wall with some shell towers ran around the monastery and was only interrupted by the abbey building in the north.

In 1504 the Waldsassen monastery was devastated by the troops of Margrave Friedrich II during the term of office of Abbot Georg I. Engel in the course of the Landshut War of Succession . As such an attack had already been feared, the monastery was occupied by troops and the monks were able to flee to the fortified abbey. The abbey building could not be captured despite artillery fire. After the attack, the abbey was occupied by mercenaries from Waldsassen, as further threats had been issued against the monastery. In 1524 the monastery was occupied by the Palatinate protectorate and in 1525 it was plundered by rebellious peasants, the abbey castle not being affected. Towards the end of the Thirty Years War , Swedish troops burned the monastery in 1648. In 1670 the reconstruction began and in 1676 also that of the abbey castle, of which only the outer walls remained. Around 1730 the curtain wall with the corner towers was removed. A pavilion on the western corner of the monastery goes back to a previous round tower.

Look then and now

Circular wall with round tower

The abbey building was built after 1433 northeast of the collegiate basilica . According to historical views, it was a square building (20 × 20 m), which was enclosed by a moat (70 × 70 m). The abbey was surrounded by a curtain wall with two square and two round towers. The three-story building has had a tent roof with high gables since 1601 . The main entrance is a grooved stone portal with an iron double door from the 15th century. The southern rectangular tower was the gate tower to which a bridge led. A second entrance led from the paradise of the basilica over a fortified wall and a wooden drawbridge to the upper floor of the gate tower; The model could have been the Passetto di Borgo of Castel Sant'Angelo . The wall was then replaced by a new baroque building that still connects the abbey palace with the monastery basilica.

The fire of 1648 destroyed the wooden fortifications of the abbey palace. After 1670 the burnt out castle was rebuilt and the adjacent buildings were also rebuilt. Remains of the curtain wall are still preserved, such as the western round tower as a pavilion. The foundations of the northern tower and the southern gate tower are still in place, there is no trace of the eastern tower. The outer moat wall is also largely preserved. The St. Joseph guesthouse is now housed there.

literature

• Ulrich Kinder: The fortifications in the Tirschenreuth district . (= Work on the archeology of southern Germany. Volume 28), (pp. 245–250). Dr. Faustus, Büchenbach 2013, ISBN 978-3-933474-82-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Homepage of the Cistercian Abbey Waldsassen. Accessed May 31, 2019 . 

Web links

• Aerial photos of Waldsassen

Coordinates: 50 ° 0 ′ 14 "  N , 12 ° 18 ′ 34"  E