Castle Island (Barmstedt)
The Barmstedter Schlossinsel in Rantzauer See near Barmstedt in Schleswig-Holstein is based on the remains of a medieval fortification, the eponymous castle was demolished at the beginning of the 19th century and replaced by a modest mansion. The castle island was owned by the Schauenburgers and later by the Counts of Rantzau and became the seat of the Danish administrators from the 18th century. The castle island with its historical building stock is now the center of a local recreation area.
The castle island in Barmstedt
Barmstedt was mentioned for the first time in 1140, the place seems, according to tradition from the time, to be settled as early as the 10th century . Between the 12th and 13th centuries , an exact date has not yet been possible, the fortifications were founded near the settlement in Krückau , the remains of which are still preserved today as the so-called castle island. The builders of this moated castle were the knights of Barmstede , who gave the place their name and who ruled in this region of Holstein ; they were just as involved in the founding of the town of Krempe as in the establishment of the Uetersen monastery .
The history of the island
After the knights of Barmstede died out around 1300, the town and the small castle came into the possession of the Counts of Schauenburg . These were made for their county a bailiff one, that of the castle island of Barmstedt and Elmshorn and Hörnerkirchen managed. Around 1640 the castle fell to the Gottorf dukes , who in turn sold the place and castle to Christian Count of Rantzau in 1649 . This founded the Free Imperial Counties of Rantzau and Barmstedt was extended to a temporary residence next to the castle in Drage after the repeated destruction of the Breitenburg .
Under the Rantzauern , the Holy Spirit Church was also rebuilt in the nearby town center - in the church the Grafenstuhl , a personal, heated box, testifies to the noble lords.
In 1721 Christian Detlev zu Rantzau was allegedly murdered in the forest near the castle by his brother Wilhelm Adolf , which a memorial stone at the crime scene reminds of to this day. The county was then confiscated by the Danish royal family and administered by Danish administrators until Schleswig-Holstein was incorporated into the Prussian state in 1867. The current building stock on the island comes mainly from this time.
During the time as a Prussian province , the castle island finally became the seat of the judge and the district court, which remained here until 1975. From 1936 the Krückau was dammed up to the Rantzauer See, which was excavated by the Reich Labor Service . In 1984 the city of Barmstedt received the castle island from the state of Schleswig-Holstein with the condition that it be integrated into the local recreation area as a gift. For a while there was also a small bird park. The castle island and the Rantzauer See are visited by up to 100,000 guests a year.
The island
For the castle area , the Krückau was dammed up in trenches in such a way that three islands were formed, of which the last, the actual castle- bearing island, was additionally surrounded by a wall ring. Remains of this ring can still be seen today on the sickle-shaped island between the water mill and the manor house. It is not yet certain whether the entire facility was still surrounded by an outer wall. It is quite possible that there were already small islands in the river at this point of the Krückau, which were then raised to the required size; this would explain the irregular ground plan of the castle grounds as well as the distance to the center of the settlement. The individual islands existed until the 19th century and were separated from one another by drawbridges; parts of the trenches were only filled in from 1823. The castle island and those who supported the castle prison, the clerk's house and their predecessor buildings were united by backfilling the trenches. The approximate area of the palace garden is today marked by the “Rantzau” street, where the remains of the former moat can still be found, which today form a small pond. There was originally a bailey between the castle island and the garden, but there are no more indications of its shape.
The buildings of the castle island
The ensemble of buildings as it appears today dates from the 19th century and is a listed building .
The Rantzau Castle
Little is known about the previous buildings, with the current building there were at least two, possibly three castle-like buildings on the site. We know about the Rantzaus Castle that it was a simple, two-story building with a rectangular floor plan, the start of which cannot be precisely dated. The basement was bricked and had a half-timbered upper floor . Around 1657, according to Christian Rantzau's own sketches, wooden galleries were attached to the exterior of this house; it is certain that the palace had a dining room, a large hall and several heatable living and utility rooms as well as an outside staircase . The basement was mainly used by the servants and contained utility rooms, the upper floor the living quarters of the count and his wife. From 1757 to 1758 two smaller wings were added, so that an almost three-wing complex was created. Although the castle has been described as homely and well equipped - including leather wallpapers and large chimneys - it is likely to have been architecturally rather simple. It was not planned and executed as a large residential palace, but as a country and hunting seat of the Rantzauer met the simpler demands.
The place of the former castle, which is occasionally found in stylized form as the crowning of the coat of arms of the city of Barmstedt and which was either destroyed by fire at the end of the 18th century or at least uninhabitable, still occupies the manor house from 1806. It is still referred to as Rantzau Castle . This building is partly built on the foundations of the previous building, the depth of the former castle was taken over for the manor house, even if it was made a third shorter. It is a modest, seven-axis brick building that was built in the classicism style. The only decoration, besides the beautiful portal, is a frieze in the shape of the running dog , which separates the main floor from the upper floor. The manor house is at the end of a small line of sight formed from the outbuildings and was the residence of the Danish administrators. As it is privately owned and inhabited today, it is not open to the public.
The outbuildings of the castle island
The clerk's house is also a classicist, one-story building with a half-hipped roof and a large portal with a skylight. It was built in 1826 by P. Heylmann. This building previously served as the bailiff's apartment. It has been used today since 1995 and has housed the painter and sculptor Karin Weißenbacher, who set up her artist workshop there and, also in coordination with the city of Barmstedt, presents a year-round national art exhibition program that is regularly open to visitors.
The 'castle prison' is a right-angled brick building from 1836, which is decorated with a small roof turret with a bell cage. The house not only housed the respective clerk of the court, but could also be used as a prison. Two small preserved cells inside, which were last occupied by an inmate in 1927, testify to this use. Since the castle prison contains both a café and various exhibitions, it is open and accessible to visitors.
The building of the former district court dates back to 1863. The building is built in the historicist arched style and in 1979 became the Museum of the County of Rantzau . This local history museum , which is only open on Sundays, is primarily dedicated to the history of the city of Barmstedt and its offices and parishes from early history to the present day. A special focus is placed on the craft , especially that of shoemaking . In the 19th century, this was the most widespread branch of business in Barmstedt and Barmstedt is, along with Preetz, a historic shoemaker town in Schleswig-Holstein.
The smallest and oldest building on the island is the half-timbered so-called Remise . The exact purpose of the small building is no longer known today, it probably dates from the 18th century. Today it is leased to an artist who has set up her workshop and studio here.
The watermill
In the immediate vicinity of the castle island are the functioning water mill and a high storage building from the 19th century. The mill was largely restored after a fire in 1940, the two overshot water wheels are put into operation every year on German Milling Day . As the mill houses a pottery shop, part of the interior is accessible to visitors.
Plans for an extended usage concept
In 2005 the management consultant Hans-Georg Schümann presented plans for a change in the usage concept of the castle island. Among other things, it was proposed to convert the mansion into an event hall, to expand the gastronomic offer on the island and to build a concert hall on the open space in front of the island. The project did not come out of the planning state, both for financial reasons and due to property issues (the residents of the manor house enjoy lifelong right of residence).
swell
- Hans u. Doris Maresch: Schleswig-Holstein's castles, manors and palaces . Husum Verlag, Husum 2006.
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments . Volume: Johannes Habich, Christoph Timm, Lutz Wilde: Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein. 2nd greatly expanded and changed edition. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-422-03033-6 .
literature
- Hans Dössel, Barmstedt, a historical exhibition , Husum-Verlag, 1988
- Richard Haupt , Barmstedt and Rantzau , Vollbehr & Riepen, ca.1920
- Hildemar thor Straten, Description of the County of Rantzau 1823 , published by Helmut Trede, Bokel, self-published 2005
- Helmut Trede, Schlossinsel Rantzau - A historical review , Helmut Trede, Bokel, self-published 2011
Web links
- Museum of the County of Rantzau
- The castle island on gartenrouten-sh.de
- Rantzauer See and Castle Island
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 53 ° 46 ′ 58 " N , 9 ° 45 ′ 37.7" E