Old Castle (Grevenbroich)

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The residential building of the old castle (left) with the modern additions (right)

The old castle in Grevenbroich ( Rhein-Kreis Neuss ) on the Lower Rhine was a state castle of the Counts of Kessel and the Duchy of Jülich , which was expanded and converted into a castle in the 16th century . Today only the residential building, a farm building, a gatehouse and remnants of the moat are left of the once large complex . They are located on the left bank of the Erft about 200 meters south of the historic part of Grevenbroich and stand on April 24, 1984 under monument protection .

history

The exact foundation date of the plant is not certain. It goes back to a high medieval , water- defended ring castle , which was founded around the year 1000. In 1190 the brothers Theodorich and Everwin Bruche sold it to the Archbishop of Cologne, Philipp I von Heinsberg . In older publications, the authors wrongly assumed that the "Bruche Castle" mentioned in the document was the castle in Mülheim an der Ruhr . Only Hans Georg Kirchhoff (see literature ) was able to prove in 2005 that the mention referred to the Grevenbroich facility. Later it came to the Counts of Kessel. On May 2, 1273, Heinrich V von Kessel pawned the castle with all its accessories for 2000 marks to Archbishop Engelbert II von Falkenburg . Three years later, on June 25, 1276, he confirmed that he was carrying what was then only called "Bruch (e)" from the Archbishopric of Cologne as a fief . Its location in the swampy terrain along the lower Erft (called Bruch) was initially surrounded on all sides by arms of the river and was probably chosen as a building site in order to be able to control the road that existed there in Roman times as well as the Erft crossing. The slightly elevated position of today's castle area could be an indication that a moth used to stand there, which was later leveled in order to build a stone ring castle. In the absence of reliable evidence, however, this is purely speculative. The current name emerged from “des Graven Broich” (“des Count Bruch”). Soon after the castle was built, a suburbium emerged from which an oppidum, mentioned in a document in 1293, grew. Hans Georg Kirchhoff suspects that it could have been a planned foundation by the Counts of Kessel. It received city ​​rights in 1311 .

After Heinrich V von Kessel died childless, his brother Walram succeeded him as Count von Kessel. Grevenbroich Castle, however, went to the second husband of Heinrich's widow Lisa von Virneburg, Dietrich Luf II von Kleve , as a fief . In February 1284 he confirmed that he had received the castle as a fief from Archbishop Siegfried von Westerburg . Only a few years later the strategically important complex was the bone of contention between Kurköln and the Jülich Counts. A first arbitration award was issued in 1291, awarding the facility to Count Walram from Jülich , but the disputes about it continued anyway. The dispute was not settled until 1307, when Johann II , Duke of Brabant and Limburg , finally awarded Grevenbroich to Count Gerhard V. von Jülich . This made the castle there the administrative center of the new Jülich district Grevenbroich and seat of a bailiff . The complex thus became the most easterly of all Jülich regional castles, which was directed against Jülich's greatest adversary, Kurköln. In December 1394, Maria von Jülich received the castle from her son Wilhelm III. awarded as part of their Wittum . In the late Middle Ages and early modern times , the complex was occasionally the meeting place for the Jülich estates , for the first time in 1425 under Duke Adolf von Jülich-Berg .

Depiction of Grevenbroich from 1771, the castle on the left

As early as 1400, the old ring castle made of basalt , tuff and Liedberg sandstone was replaced by a new building, partially reusing the demolition material. This included two wing structures and some stately towers. Between 1561 and 1577, Duke Wilhelm the Rich had the Grevenbroich complex under the direction of Maximilian von Pasqualini renovated and converted into a castle. Among other things, a gallery and a garden with water features were added. The construction costs hit with 23,000 guilders to book. After the death of the last Duke of Jülich, the palace came into the possession of the Palatinate-Neuburg family in 1609 . During the reign of Wolfgang Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg , the castle was shot at by Hessian troops in the Thirty Years' War and finally captured. Further destruction by raids, sieges and wars left only a small amount of the building fabric of the large complex. A sketch from 1771 shows the residential building called the Palas and the north wing, which was laid down at the end of the 18th century, including a horseshoe-shaped moat, as well as two free-standing buildings and a garden.

The old castle on the Tranchot map, 1801–1828

In the course of modern times the castle lost more and more of its importance. After the city was occupied by French revolutionary troops , the Grevenbroich office was dissolved in 1795 and the castle was sold to private customers. On the Tranchot map it is shown as a two-part complex, consisting of the main castle and the outer castle area to the north of it , which is surrounded by a partially double moat. 130 years of castle history followed with several changes of ownership, various uses and associated renovations, as well as increasing deterioration. The castle halls were divided into smaller rooms and served, among other things, as guest rooms and classrooms. In 1938, the city of Grevenbroich finally acquired the remaining residential building and had the building, which was in danger of collapsing, repaired by 1955. Subsequently, two modern wings to the west were added by 1958, so that the old castle is again a multi-wing complex today. In the process, all of the existing, dilapidated additions were demolished, including the tower of the north wing, which had been abandoned earlier. During the expansion work, remains of the brick foundations came to light, which may have belonged to the predecessor complex with its oval circular wall . In 1988, archaeological investigations found further wall remains made of field fire bricks .

The halls of the old castle are now used as a conference and meeting place and can be used for celebrations and meetings. A restaurant is located in the basement. The Hartmann House, the castle's former winery , has also been in the city's hands since 1977. After extensive restoration work , it has been used for cultural events such as exhibitions, concerts and lectures since June 1979. The Grevenbroichs registry office also has a wedding room in the house.

description

Housing (Palas)

Ground floor plan from the end of the 19th century

The palace's Gothic residential building, known as the Palas , is one of the larger representatives of its kind and measures 37.40 × 10.45 meters. The two-story brick building dates from the 15th century and is of a slated pitched roof completed. The outer wall on the field side in the southeast is three meters thick. The floor plan of the building does not form a perfectly regular rectangle and suggests that it was at least partially built on the foundations of the older ring castle. The north-western front side is slightly sloping and shows that other buildings used to be attached there. Today there is a newer north wing, the upper floor of which is made of timber . Traces of the former south-west wing were still visible until 1958, before today's two modern building wings were built at this point. Under the eaves of a cantilevered pointed arches runs along the old part fries . It rests on stone consoles made of trachyte . The Gothic cross-frame windows of the residential building are still preserved. In the past, only the two upper quarters were glazed, while the lower half of the window could be closed with wooden shutters . The Gothic stone wall of what was once the only entrance to the palace has been preserved.

The knight's hall

In the beginning, each storey was divided into two rooms by a central wall. On the high ground floor, this was removed again to create today's knight's hall . Its wooden beam ceiling was renewed in the 1950s. The barrel vault is still preserved in the basement . Initially, the storeys were connected to each other by stairs in the wall thickness, before a stair tower on the courtyard side took over this function. During the repairs in 1955, it was demolished along with the adjoining extensions and replaced by today's square successor with three storeys and a pyramid roof.

Outbuildings

The outer bailey's farm buildings were located north of the residential building. It was accessible from the city via a drawbridge , which led to a gate that is still intact today . Its arched gate has a frame made of stone . A half-timbered upper floor rises above it, which was renovated in the 20th century based on the old model. The bridge crossed a moat, remains of which can still be seen in the garden of the neighboring house as depressions in the terrain. This connects to the gate via a short connecting structure in the south and is the former winery of the castle. It was given its current name "Haus Hartmann" from the last private owner before the city of Grevenbroich bought it. The seven-axis brick building is dated to the year 1724 by wall anchors . Its two storeys are closed off by a pan- roofed gable roof. It can be assumed that a moat once ran between the outer bailey and the main bailey, but that it was abandoned quite early.

  • South face of the residential building

  • New north wing

  • Castle gate (city side)

  • Former winery (Hartmann House)

literature

  • Paul Clemen : The art monuments of the Grevenbroich district (= The art monuments of the Rhine Province . Volume 3, Section 5). L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1897, pp. 31-34 ( digitized version ).
  • Josef Decker: About the "Old Castle" in Grevenbroich . In: Contributions to the history of the city of Grevenbroich . Volume 1. Grevenbroich 1979, pp. 37-46.
  • Brigitte Janssen, Walter Janssen: Castles, palaces and court festivals in the Neuss district. District administration Neuss, Neuss 1980, ISBN 3-9800327-0-1 , pp. 160-165.
  • Hans Georg Kirchhoff: Grevenbroich. The city history. From prehistoric times to the French Revolution (= contributions to the history of Grevenbroich. Volume 17). Grevenbroich 2006, pp. 70-74, 110-111.
  • Karl Emerich Krämer : From Brühl to Kranenburg. Castles, palaces, gates and towers that can be visited. Mercator, Duisburg 1979, ISBN 3-87463-074-9 , pp. 32-33.
  • Hans Maresch, Doris Maresch: North Rhine-Westphalia's palaces, castles and mansions. Husum, Husum 2015, ISBN 978-3-89876-717-0 , pp. 104-105.
  • Friedrich Schmitz: The old castle in Grevenbroich . In: Program for the Schützenfest 3. – 7. September 1999 (anniversary publication 1849–1999). Bürgererschützenverein 1849 Grevenbroich eV, Grevenbroich 1999, pp. 337-344.
  • Jens Wroblewski, André Wemmers: Theiss-Burgenführer Niederrhein . Konrad Theiss , Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1612-6 , pp. 58-59 .

Web links

Commons : Altes Schloss  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Description of the old castle from the monument authority on limburg-bernd.de , accessed on April 29, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Entry by Jens Friedhoff and Karin Striewe on the old castle in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute.
  3. ^ Stefan Frankewitz : State castles, castles, palaces and fortress houses up to 1500 as reflected in the written documents (= Historical Atlas of the Rhineland . Volume IV, No. 12). Habelt, Bonn 2007, ISBN 9783774935198 , p. 47.
  4. ↑ Hans Georg Kirchhoff: The gentlemen from Broich to Erft and Gillbach. A search for clues. In: Kreisheimatbund Neuss (ed.): Yearbook for the Rhein-Kreis Neuss 2005. Neusser Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Neuss 2004, pp. 26–43.
  5. ^ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet : Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine. Volume 2. Wolf, Düsseldorf 1846, No. 632 ( digitized version ).
  6. ^ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet : Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine. Volume 2. Wolf, Düsseldorf 1846, No. 693 ( digitized version ).
  7. ↑ Josef Decker: About the "Old Castle" in Grevenbroich . 1979, p. 37.
  8. ↑ Josef Decker: About the "Old Castle" in Grevenbroich . 1979, pp. 38-39.
  9. ^ Hanns Ott: Rhenish water castles. History, forms, functions. Weidlich, Würzburg 1984, ISBN 3-8035-1239-5 , p. 160.
  10. ^ Brigitte Janssen, Walter Janssen: Castles, palaces and court festivals in the Neuss district. 1980, p. 160.
  11. ↑ a b Hans Georg Kirchhoff: Grevenbroich. The city history. 2006, p. 73.
  12. ^ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet : Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine. Volume 2. Wolf, Düsseldorf 1846, No. 796 ( digitized version ).
  13. ^ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet : Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine. Volume 3. Wolf, Düsseldorf 1853, No. 54 ( digitized version ).
  14. ^ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet : Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine. Volume 3. Wolf, Düsseldorf 1853, No. 1000 ( digitized version ).
  15. ↑ Josef Decker: About the "Old Castle" in Grevenbroich . 1979, p. 43.
  16. ↑ a b Josef Decker: About the "Old Castle" in Grevenbroich . 1979, p. 41.
  17. ↑ a b Josef Decker: About the "Old Castle" in Grevenbroich . 1979, p. 39.
  18. ^ Dorothea Herkenrath: Maximilian Pasqualini (1534–1572) and his family. In: Bernhard Poll (Ed.): Rheinische Lebensbilder. Volume 2. Droste, Düsseldorf 1966, pp. 109-124.
  19. ↑ a b c Josef Decker: About the "Old Castle" in Grevenbroich . 1979, p. 40.
  20. ^ Hans Georg Kirchhoff: Grevenbroich. The city history. 2006, p. 129.
  21. ^ Karl Emerich Krämer: From Brühl to Kranenburg. Castles, palaces, gates and towers that can be visited. 1979, p. 32.
  22. ↑ a b Josef Decker: About the "Old Castle" in Grevenbroich . 1979, p. 46.
  23. ^ Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments . North Rhine-Westphalia, Volume 1: Rhineland. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1967, p. 212.
  24. ↑ a b c Information about the old castle and house Hartmann on the website of the city of Grevenbroich , accessed on April 29, 2018.
  25. ↑ a b Jens Wroblewski, André Wemmers: Theiss Burgenführer. Lower Rhine. Theiss, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1612-6 , p. 59.
  26. ↑ Josef Decker: About the "Old Castle" in Grevenbroich . 1979, p. 42.

Coordinates: 51 ° 5 ′ 10.5 ″  N , 6 ° 35 ′ 19.5 ″  E