Benedicta Margareta von Löwendal

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Bust in Lauchhammer
Mückenberger Castle, destroyed in 1945.

Benedicta Margareta Freifrau (Freiin) von Löwendal (* 1683 ; † July 26, 1776 in Mückenberg ) was a Danish-German noblewoman and founder of the Lauchhammer factory .

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Born in 1683 as Benedicta Margaretha von Rantzau auf Neuhaus, she came from the Holstein nobility. Her father was Cai von Rantzau auf Neuhaus (1650–1704), her mother Catharine Margrethe von Blome (1649–1687). Through her marriage to the German baron and Saxon chief miner Woldemar Freiherr von Löwendal (1660–1740) on January 29, 1709 she became Baroness von Löwendal. The marriage resulted in four children, but all of them died in childhood:

  • Augustus Baron von Löwendal
  • Anna Sophie Baroness von Löwendal
  • Friedericus August Baron von Löwendal
  • Margarethe Adelheid Benedicte Baroness von Löwendal

Around 1716 the baroness moved from Dresden to Mückenberg . She had the Mückenberg Castle built there, of which only the castle park and the castle church still exist today. After the discovery of lawn iron stone deposits , it was decided to found an ironworks. The baron gave his wife the rights to use the work. In 1725 the first blast furnace was put into operation with the personal consent of August the Strong . This marked the birth of the industrial site Lauchhammer. By hiring skilled workers, Ms. von Löwendahl promoted the development of the previously economically insignificant region. In addition, she built schools and poor houses and supported church institutions with donations.

In 1727 she was given the power of Saathain Castle and the associated villages from her husband . In 1748 she sold Saathain to Johann George von Einsiedel .

The Baroness von Löwendal worked for more than 51 years in the region of today's town of Lauchhammer and is one of the first women entrepreneurs in Lower Lusatia .

She died on July 26, 1776 at Mückenberg Castle. She bequeathed all of her property, including the Mückenberg estate with the castle and the hammer mill, to her godchild, Detlev Carl Graf von Einsiedel .

In her honor a street and the former Freifrau-von-Löwendal-Gymnasium were named in Lauchhammer .

literature

  • Reinhard Köpping, ore and nobility. On the life and work of the Baroness von Löwendal . Edited by the Lauchhammer Art Casting Museum Foundation. Verlag der Kunst Dresden, Husum 2010
personal data
SURNAME Löwendal, Benedicta Margareta von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Löwendal, Benedicta Margareta Freiin von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish-German nobleman and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 1683
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1776
Place of death Mückenberg