Alt-Linzenshäuschen
Alt-Linzenshäuschen is the name of one of the eight former watchtowers of the former Aachen Empire , which was built around 1410. It was located in the Aachener Heide , the forest area south of Aachen, on the edge of a road connection that already existed in Roman times, the later pilgrimage route from Eupen to Aachen . Its original name was "Watchtower Brandenberg" (Brandenberg = Grenzberg), but from the 16th century onwards the name "Linzenshäuschen" developed over several name variations, initially in the vernacular and later also in the official records. The entire current building complex is a listed building . In the 12 novellas in the local color by Carl Borromäus Cünzer , Alt-Linzenshäuschen is one of the scenes of his actions.
Origin of name
The original name Brandenberg for Grenzberg refers to the border location of a hill in the south of the Aachen Empire to its neighboring areas at the time, which were initially subordinate to the Duchy of Limburg and later to the Austrian Habsburgs .
The decisive factor for the newer name was ultimately a municipal servant named Lenz (Lorentz / Laurentz) Bestyn (Bastian), who, like his father of the same name, occupied an official apartment there as a tower guard and forest officer. The son was first mentioned in a document around 1510, when a certain Andreas von Merode and tenant of a large part of the neighboring forest complained in a letter dated October 24, 1510 that Aachen citizens were illegally chopping wood there and that the tower guard did not prevent them, but actually would participate in it himself. This made Lenz known and mocked as a wood thief and forest raider, whereupon the vernacular called him only "Leensgyn up ghen huysgijn". The name "Leensgyn / Lenßgen" itself developed from the derision and diminutive of Lenz and means something like "Lenzchen" or "little Lenz". In addition, the vernacular added the trivialized form for the house complex, which gave rise to the name "Lenzchen on his little house".
As early as the end of the 16th century, nobody spoke of the “Brandenberg” tower and the personal designation has now stabilized in official documents and maps. Here it varied from “Laurentii häuslein” (1699), “Lorentz häusge” (1780), “Laurentz häusge” (1795), and through further vowel shifts to today's “Linzenshäuschen”, which in turn comes closer to the original Lenßgen.
After another building was erected in the immediate vicinity at the end of the 19th century, which was then called "New Linzenshäuschen", the former guard system was given the name "Alt-Linzenshäuschen", which is still valid today.
history
The Brandenberg watchtower was commissioned by the Free Imperial City of Aachen with the approval of the Duke of Jülich , to whom Aachen was subordinate at the time, initially built as part of the outer fortifications and the Aachen ditch and manned by mounted guards. The surrounding area consisted mainly of heathland, fields and meadows, so that there was sufficient all-round and distant view. The tower itself was visually connected to at least one of the seven other watchtowers, so that warnings of unauthorized intruders could be given in good time by smoke or light signals or with gunfire. As early as the 15th century, the guard system also served as a forester's house, in which a city forest official lived, who in later years also held the office of health guard. The first forester known by name was Peter Mölner in 1458, who vowed to the incumbent mayor that he would “ faithfully fulfill the military, police, agricultural, social and civil law ”.
At the beginning of the 18th century, an annex was built as a restaurant on the watchtower of Linzenshäuschen, where travelers could fortify themselves, as well as a barn to change and look after the horses. This also includes the fountain on the driveway to the road, which served as a horse trough and a raven sculpture was placed on it in 1905, which is why it is also known as the "raven fountain". From 1828 Linzenshäuschen was also given the function of a customs office for the collection of the road tolls introduced at the time as well as the meal and slaughter tax, whereby the road passing by was interrupted by grindel (barriers) for this purpose.
After it was no longer used as a customs house just a few decades later, the surrounding area was reforested for people looking for recreation and around 1850 the existing buildings were fundamentally renovated and restored. For this purpose, the existing farm buildings behind the main building were first extended and expanded into staff and service buildings, and a terrace for outdoor catering was set up between the two buildings, and in 1893/94 an extension was built on a stone vaulted base on the side facing the street. In addition, Linzenshäuschen received a siding a little later from the Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft , which, from around the turn of the century, served Linzenshäuschen as its terminus with its “F” line. As a result, the Aachen spa and bathing guests flocked into the forest in droves, whereupon another restaurant building with a spacious glass palace and a music pavilion was built a few 100 meters below and into town from the old Linzenshäuschen in the entrance area of today's Grindelweg.
While the Neu-Linzenshäuschen had to be demolished in the middle of the 20th century for cost reasons, the Alt-Linzenshäuschen was preserved as an excursion restaurant with its baroque furnishings in Aachen-Liège , as well as the old horse trough, which has been restored several times over the years. In 1956, the Aachen sculptor Matthias Corr placed a new raven sculpture on it.
Grand Hermitage Linzenshäuschen
Around 1699, in the immediate vicinity of Linzenshäuschen and with the approval of the city council, a hermit hermitage was built , which was supposed to accommodate a maximum of two religious, and a little later a chapel with a small burial place. This location was named "Grand Hermitage" to distinguish it from the "Petit Hermitage" at the Marienkapelle Burtscheid, which has existed since 1681 . The hermitage Linzenshäuschen received a keystone above the door arch on which the coat of arms of the city of Aachen with the year 1700 as well as the names of the Aachen mayors Balthasar Fiebus (1646–1715) and Werner von Broich and the builders Hinrich Simons and Winand von Eichwiller were engraved. The hermitage was inhabited until 1749, after which the council decided that it should be demolished, but the order was not carried out for the time being and instead it was privately inhabited by a married couple who set up a small café there. Only in the course of the French occupation was the hermitage finally evacuated and destroyed due to vandalism. The keystone with the engravings could be saved and used as part of a later renovation over the archway of Linzenshäuschen.
In contrast, the place of prayer, consecrated in 1703 by an Augustinian prior under the name of “ Maria-Hilfkapelle ”, existed until 1827 and served both as a place of the Sunday mass celebrations for the neighboring rural population and as a place of pilgrimage for many years on Whit Monday. Eventually the chapel was so dilapidated that it had to be demolished and neither the church nor the city saw any reason to build a new one in this remote area. Only the bell could be saved and given to the Augustinian Church.
Linzenshäuschen building complex
The building complex consists of the rectangular watchtower in quarry stone construction with three storeys and a roof structure under a hipped roof that was later expanded . The upper floor is like the floor on all sides with loopholes equipped, had been used in these later window. Until 1880 the Linzenshäuschen consisted of the tower and a small northern extension with a gable roof , in which parts of the inn and some stables were located. Both to the west of the tower and as an extension of the old extension, two parallel farm and service buildings with gable roofs were built later in the form of a two-wing courtyard. On the north side they were connected to the watchtower with a passage and on the south side by means of a gatehouse with an integrated archway, over which the keystone from the former Hermitage was built. The resulting inner courtyard, the walls of which have been puddled white, is still used for outdoor catering. A separate bakery belonging to the area was located a few meters outside the entrance portal for security reasons, but no longer exists.
The restaurant extension from 1893/94 rises along the eastern farm building, built on the street side on the slope on a massive cellar with five arches. It is designed in the style of a half-timbered house and has a full-sided glass facade.
Also facing the street on the eastern side of the tower is a well-preserved 66x67-cm basalt slab from the early 15th century, which is framed by narrow stone strips , in the middle of the walls between the lower and middle floors . An inscription is engraved on it that welcomes the numerous pilgrims who passed by Linz houses as part of the Aachen shrine tours and the associated veneration of the Virgin Mary and who later stopped by there. It is written on it:
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Aue maria keiseri |
Ave Maria Empress | |
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literature
- Eduard Teichmann: Linzenshäuschen. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association . 27, 1905, pp. 1-24 ( pdf ).
- Eduard Teichmann: The foresters on Linzenshäuschen. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association. 29, 1907, pp. 1-48 ( pdf ).
- Eduard Teichmann: Linzenshäuschen - the hermitage and the chapel. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association. 30, 1908, pp. 1-61 ( pdf ).
- Richard Pick : The hermitage and chapel at the Linzenshäuschen. In: Richard Pick: From Aachen's past - contributions to the history of the old imperial city. Aachen 1895, pp. 96-104 ( digitized ).
Web links
- Linzenshäuschen - Description on AASTRA ( Memento from February 17, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
- History Alt-Linzenshäuschen
Individual evidence
- ^ Rabenbrunnen by Matthias Corr
- ↑ Entry in the inscription catalog Aachen, DI 32, City of Aachen, No. 29 (Helga Giersiepen)
Coordinates: 50 ° 44 '17.3 " N , 6 ° 5' 25.7" E