Altendorf Castle

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Tower of Altendorf Castle from the southwest (2014)
Tower of Altendorf Castle from the north (2007)

The ruins of Altendorf Castle stand on a peninsula south of the Ruhr in the Burgaltendorf district of Essen at an altitude of 100 meters above sea level. It is a moated castle with a moat that is now silted up and has the largest surviving residential tower - also known as the Donjon - between the Rhine and Weser rivers .

Erected in the Romanesque style in the second half of the 12th century , the complex was rebuilt and expanded during the Gothic and Renaissance periods . Owners and owners were among others the noble families von Vietinghoff-Schell and von Mumm, before the castle came into private bourgeois possession in the middle of the 19th century. After it fell into ruin at the beginning of the 20th century, the first security measures began in 1903, which were followed by systematic uncovering and restoration of the existing building fabric from 1957 to 1960 and 1962 to 1970.

Today the castle complex is owned by the city of Essen. The outdoor area can be viewed freely at any time.

description

Schematic floor plan of the castle complex with the current building stock and the former moats

The castle complex is divided into an outer bailey and a core bailey, both of which were previously surrounded by a moat measuring around 90 by 130 meters and 12.50 meters wide . The moats are now silted up or filled in, but until the 18th century they were fed via a wooden pipe from a watercourse 800 meters to the west. As building material, cuboids and quarry stones from the naturally occurring Ruhr sandstone were used.

Outer bailey

The outer bailey is 55 by 50 meters and has a trapezoidal floor plan with the remains of round towers at the corners. In the area, which is bounded by a circular wall , the remains of three former farm buildings and the gate building have been preserved. The ruin of the farm building in the southern corner also houses the more than eight meter deep castle well. In addition, the corner points of a former schoolhouse are marked in the modern pavement of the outer courtyard.

In the north-west corner there is a new building from the 1960s, which is used by a restaurant and includes the north-east corner tower.

Core castle

A steel bridge with wooden planks leads from the outer bailey to the inner bailey. Their area is limited by a rectangular ring wall measuring 29 by 30 meters and five meters high. This has the remains of a battlement on its southwest and southeast side. The bulges of a square defense tower can be seen on its southwest side. In the middle of the main castle area rises a five-storey residential tower, today 21.70 meters high, the side lengths of which are 11.5 and 13.10 meters. There are two entrances to his former cellar with barrel vaults (today the ground floor), which in the 17th century also served as the Blankenstein Office's prison . At its four corners there are still the bases of those columns that supported the former cross vault of this storey. Both the north-west and south-west side have walled-up window openings from the Romanesque period. They were replaced by transom windows in the Gothic period, many of which still exist.

At the northern corner of the donjon are the remains of a former, hexagonal stair tower, while the ruins of a farm building are in front of the western corner of the residential tower.

All the false ceilings of the residential tower have disappeared today. On the first floor, however, the remains of the eight-part ribbed vault are visible, as are the remains of chimneys on all floors - except in the former dungeon. A modern spiral staircase inside the tower leads to a viewing platform.

Owner and owner

The von Altendorf and von Vietinghoff-Schell families

The first documented resident of the castle was the ministerial family of the Lords of Altendorf. From 1297 they are run as feudal men of the Counts of the Mark ; namely the knights Wennemar von Altendorf the Elder and Wennemar von Altendorf the Younger. They both held the hereditary death office of the Reichsstift Essen .

By marrying Nelles von Altendorf, the heiress of an Altendorf branch, the von Vietinghoff-Schell family, whose ancestral seat was Schellenberg Castle , came into co-ownership of the castle and, after the death of Rutgers von Altendorf in 1386, became the sole owners of the complex. Christopher von Vietinghoff-Schell had the castle complex completely rebuilt from 1533.

Von Ketteler family

After Arnold von Vietinghoff died in November 1601 as the last male representative of this family without living descendants, a complicated line of succession began, which led to the division and thus fragmentation of the Altendorf property. The new lord of the castle was Johann von Ketteler zu Nesselrath. Together with his brother Wilhelm, who had married Arnold von Vietinghoff's widow, Guda von Romberg , he managed to reunite large parts of the property, which had been widely dispersed by the division of the estate, in his hands.

The von Mangelmann family

When Johann died in 1628/29, Capitain Jacob von Mangelmann, who was in Dutch service, urged Johann's widow Katharina von Loë to secure a loan he had granted in the amount of 6,000 Reichstalers . Katharina then pledged the Altendorf Castle to him in September 1629. However, the pledge agreement allowed the von Ketteler family to re-activate the system in return for payment of 14,000 Reichstalers. Jacob von Mangelmann moved into quarters at the castle together with his wife in 1633.

After Jacob's death there were inheritance disputes between his children and his widow from his second marriage, Katharina von Bernsau. The only daughter from his first marriage, Catharina Christine von Mangelmann, referred to her parents' marriage contract, which stipulated that the pledge should be the property of the children from Jacob's first marriage, while Katharina von Bernsau should also do so for herself and her two children Made claims to Altendorf Castle. A settlement between the parties to the dispute finally determined that the facility passed into the possession of Catharina Christines. By marrying Bernhard von Mumm zu Schwarzenstein in 1652, she brought this to his family.

Family of guts

In 1653 the heirs of the Ketteler family canceled the pledge and deposited the contractually agreed pledge amount of 14,000 Reichstalers, but Bernhard von Mumm rejected the sum as too low. The Kettelers then sued the court in Kleve , and von Mumm was sentenced to leave Altendorf Castle within three weeks. However, since he did not comply with this judgment, the Drost von Blankenstein , Johann Georg von Syberg , was charged with evacuating the facility. This endeavor was unsuccessful, however, as Bernhard von Mumm barricaded himself in his castle. A second evacuation attempt was also unsuccessful, because the belligerent lord of the castle sued the imperial court against the siege of his property. The court ruled that the von Ketteler family had to pay an additional 25,000 Reichstaler as compensation for Mumm's other expenses in addition to the agreed pledge in order to redeem the pledge. Because of this high sum, the Ketteler heirs waived their claims in Altendorf, and the castle became the property of the von Mumm family.

Already in 1683 there were disputes about property again. Wirich Wilhelm von Mangelmann, the son of Jacob von Mangelmann from his second marriage, sued the von Mumm family again. The timing was right because both Bernhard von Mumm and his son Jacob Gottfried had died in the meantime and Gottfried's widow Anna Christine von Syberg had moved to Haus Kemnade with their two underage children . The castle was now only inhabited by the family of a rentier . In order to emphasize his demands on the complex, Wirich Wilhelm had it occupied in a coup on October 8, 1687 .

A lawsuit by the Mumm heirs against this possession before the Reichsgericht followed immediately, but a decision on the ownership structure was still a long time coming. Although Wirich Wilhelm had died in 1690/91 without heirs and the Mumm heirs were again the sole beneficiaries of the castle, it was only after years of costly negotiations in 1766 that the final clarification came about: two thirds of Altendorf Castle were awarded to the descendants of the Mumm family, the the remaining third went to the barons von Wendt as the heirs of Wirich Wilhelm Mangelmann.

Bourgeois owners

The 2/3 share came through Baroness Anna Amalia Elisabeth von Berchem, née Mumm zu Altendorf, to her great-niece Amalia Sophia Schumacher, who brought the castle to his family in 1789 by marrying Johann Wilhelm Sombart.

As early as around 1760, however, the complex was no longer used as a manorial residence, but was converted into a Kotten by long lease . In 1849 and 1850, the Steiger Friedrich Wilhelm Kirkamm replaced the still existing manorial rights of the Sombart and von Wendt families. Altendorf Castle thus became civil private property. However, Kirkamm only remained the owner for two years. High debts forced him to sell the plant in March 1852 to the two farmers Wilhelm Kellermann and Heinrich Mintrop. The two bought it for the Catholic school community Altendorf, which wanted to build a school building on the castle grounds, and sold it to them on October 22, 1855 for 2,345  thalers .

Due to the forced incorporation of Altendorf, the city of Essen has owned the castle complex since 1970.

Building history

Romanesque

Bricked up opening of a Romanesque window on the residential tower

The date of origin of Altendorf Castle cannot be precisely dated to this day. Excavation finds and the architectural style of the ruin suggest that it was built during the Romanesque period in the second half of the 12th century. It is also not known exactly who built the plant. The Counts of Altena-Isenberg or the Archdiocese of Cologne come into question as possible builders . After 1160, the Counts of Altena needed a military base to secure their bailiwick rights over the imperial monastery of Essen and the imperial abbey of Werden , while the Archbishop of Cologne , Philip I of Heinsberg, after the fall of Henry the Lion, needed the castle complex after 1180 as a base for the land expansion of Kurköln could have built in the east of the Duchy of Westphalia .

The first guaranteed complex consisted of a three-story residential tower, which was surrounded by a circular wall. Its ground floor was used as a guardroom and, like the first floor, had a groin vault . The second floor served as a utility room and had a fireplace and a toilet. Above that, on the top floor, there was a residential floor with three Romanesque arched windows with double arcades and dwarf columns in each wall. A defense platform lay over its final beamed ceiling . The only entrance to the residential tower was on its southeast side, while a semicircular staircase tower on its north corner provided access to the upper floors. In Roman times, a small building with another toilet was built in front of the entrance.

At that time there was a small outer bailey to the northwest, which was 0.8 to 1.2 meters lower than today's outer bailey. Connected to the main castle by a bridge, its gatehouse in the northern curtain wall with its drawbridge offered the only access to the entire complex.

Gothic

Around 1400 the facility was rebuilt and expanded in the Gothic style. A possible client was Arndt II von Vietinghoff-Schell. The residential tower was raised by two storeys and probably provided with a tent roof and its circular wall increased. The first floor of the tower was given a barrel vault and was then used as a cellar. The vault of the "new ground floor" (formerly the first floor) was replaced by an eight-part ribbed vault, the keystone of which is still preserved today. In addition, all floors received chimneys as a heating option. The Romanesque windows in the living area were walled up and new openings for transom windows were made instead. For this purpose, a presumably two-storey stable or farm building was built on the north-western outside, which also served as a forge. The previous main entrance was also relocated to the northeast side of the residential tower through a breakthrough in the wall.

Renaissance

Remains of a round corner tower erected by Christopher von Vietinghoff-Schell in the outer bailey

Under Christopher von Vietinghoff-Schell, the Altendorfer castle complex was rebuilt and enlarged again from around 1533; according to the time in the Renaissance style. By 1540 he had the old Romanesque stair tower demolished and replaced by a polygonal tower and the main entrance of the building moved there. The donjon also received a gable roof and ornamental gables, which were decorated with pilaster strips , half-rim echelons and volutes , among other things . These ornamental gables were probably influenced by the Lippe Renaissance , as Christopher von Vietinghoff-Schell's first wife came from Lippe . In addition, the residential tower received a bay window on its south-east wall. The circular wall of the residential tower was also extensively changed by increasing it and adding a battlement - probably made of half-timbered houses . In addition, a small, polygonal watchtower was built on its south corner, while a square defense tower was placed in front of its south-west side. The client also had the outer bailey changed extensively by enlarging it three times. A fort-like building ensemble was created with today's trapezoidal floor plan and round towers at the corners. For this purpose, the courtyard was raised to today's level and paved with pebbles from the Ruhr . In addition, the small gatehouse was converted into a separate gatehouse, which was flanked by guard and utility rooms. The brewery , which is also equipped with ornamental gables, was built in the south corner , while a large stable and storage building was built on the north wall - the so-called Bauhaus .

Modern times

After the owners stopped using the castle as a manorial residence around 1760 and instead leased it as a bait, the complex gradually degenerated into ruin. Towards the end of the 18th century, hardly any room seems to have been habitable, as the tenant at that time was allowed to build a new house made of half-timbered and broken stones on the area. The gate building and the eastern corner tower of the outer bailey were probably also removed, because according to the original cadastre from 1823 they were no longer available at that time.

During the 19th century, the castle complex also served as a quarry. For example, from May 5, 1858, teachers' apartments and a one-story schoolhouse were built from the stones of the ruin in the outer bailey. The rest of the castle area was subsequently used by the teachers as a garden and pasture area. In 1861 the Catholic school community Altendorf, as the owner of the ruin, first thought of securing the existing building structure of the residential tower with a new roof. However, since the responsible district administrator demanded that such a roof should correspond to "the style of the whole" as a castle building, the school board again abandoned its plan.

From 1900

Old postcard with the castle ruins (before 1903)

From 1900, however, serious efforts to preserve the ruins followed. The vaults of the residential tower had collapsed in the meantime, but security work began in May 1903, which cost 10,500  gold marks and continued until 1904. In the course of the work, the teacher's house, which had become dilapidated due to damage in the mountains and had not been used since 1901, was demolished.

Then Altendorf Castle was left to its fate for another 50 years. As a result of the neglect, the north-east and south-west wall of the residential tower collapsed. It was therefore only accessible by climbing piles of rubble. Furthermore, tree roots blew up the walls of the outer bailey, while two corner towers of the outer bailey were only left as remains of the foundation. In the period from 1957 to 1960, security work was carried out again for around DM 33,800 in  order to preserve the noticeably reduced structure. In addition, a bridge was built from the outer bailey to the residential tower to make it accessible again. The old schoolhouse from 1858 was unused after the construction of a new Altendorf school and was burned down in 1961 as part of a fire brigade exercise and finally demolished. From 1962, his stones were used again in systematic restoration measures. The remaining masonry was secured until 1970, the castle area was freed from rubble and buried building fabric and the moats that had silted up since the 18th century due to lowering of the water level were exposed again. The aim of the work was not only to preserve the castle ruins as the landmark of Altendorf, but also to make them attractive for visitors. For this purpose, a castle restaurant was built in 1969 using the existing outer bailey walls and the north-western corner tower, and a wooden walkway was installed on the upper floor of the residential tower in 1970, which can be reached via a spiral staircase inside the tower.

Due to erosion and environmental influences, the masonry was damaged again and from 2000 onwards, several years of restoration work were necessary.

Excavations

From 1966 to 1969, the archaeological working group of the boys' high school in Hattingen carried out excavations on the castle area under the direction of the district home administrator Heinrich Eversberg . Much knowledge regarding the architectural and cultural history of Altendorf Castle is based on the results of these excavations. Among other things, the foundation of the gate building in the outer bailey and the former castle fountain were exposed. In the area of ​​the core castle, excavations were carried out in the cellar area of ​​the residential tower and in the castle courtyard, in the course of which the foundations of the Romanesque porch on the southeast side were discovered.

The architectural components found during the excavation work made it possible for the first time to attempt to reconstruct the Romanesque and Gothic castle and the Renaissance complex. For example, a Romanesque spout stone, parts of the Romanesque arched windows, Gothic floor tiles as well as two volute stones and several decorative balls from the Renaissance period were found. A Renaissance column as well as floor and stove tiles are exhibited in the museum in the iron house in Hattingen.

Todays use

The Altendorf castle ruins have been open to tourists since the early 1970s and are freely accessible to visitors. Ten information boards on the castle grounds provide information about the function and significance of individual components of the facility. The Burgaltendorf Local History and Castle Association, which is accompanying the renovation of the castle, also offers castle tours for those interested from mid-April to mid-October, during which visitors can also enter the residential tower and the viewing platform.

As a landmark of the place, the castle area is regularly used for events of the local associations - including the Burgaltendorfer Castle Festival, which has been taking place every odd year since 1981, and the medieval market that takes place every even year  - and for numerous cultural events.

literature

  • Dieter Bonnekamp: The Altendorf Castle . Brochure of the Heimat- und Burgverein Essen-Burgaltendorf. Self-published by the association, Essen-Burgaltendorf 2005.
  • Local history and castle association Burgaltendorf e. V. (Ed.): The Altendorf Castle. Self-published by the association, Essen-Burgaltendorf 1990.
  • Detlef Hopp : Altendorf Castle. In: Detlef Hopp, Bianca Khil, Elke Schneider (eds.): Burgenland Essen. Castles, palaces and permanent houses in Essen. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8375-1739-2 , pp. 22-25.
  • Stefan Leenen: Altendorf Castle- In: Kai Niederhöfer: Castles AufRuhr. On the way to 100 castles, palaces and mansions in the Ruhr region. Klartext Verlag, Essen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8375-0234-3 , pp. 163–166.
  • Petra Meuwsen, Stefan Leenen: Altendorf Castle 1601 - Castle and property in the mirror of the will of Arnold von Vittinhoff-Schell Klartext Verlag, Essen 2019, ISBN 978-3-8375-1967-9
  • Eberhard G. Neumann: Altendorf Castle / Ruhr. In: Westphalia. No. 50, 1972, ISSN  0043-4337 , pp. 58-59.

Web links

Commons : Burg Altendorf  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b D. Bonnekamp: Die Burg Altendorf , p. 1.
  2. ^ EG Neumann: Burg Altendorf / Ruhr , p. 59.
  3. ↑ Anna Christine had married the owner of the Kemnade house, Friedrich Matthias von Syberg, in her second marriage.
  4. ↑ D. Bonnekamp: Die Burg Altendorf , p. 4.
  5. ↑ D. Bonnekamp: Comments of the Heimat- und Burgverein Essen-Burgaltendorf on the list of monuments of the city of Essen ( memento from July 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ D. Bonnekamp: Die Burg Altendorf , p. 2.
  7. ↑ Heimat- und Burgverein Essen-Burgaltendorf: Die Burg Altendorf , p. 16.
  8. ↑ a b c E. G. Neumann: Burg Altendorf / Ruhr , p. 66.
  9. ^ EG Neumann: Burg Altendorf / Ruhr , p. 69.
  10. ↑ Heimat- und Burgverein Essen-Burgaltendorf: Die Burg Altendorf , p. 33.
  11. ↑ Heimat- und Burgverein Essen-Burgaltendorf: Die Burg Altendorf , p. 63.
  12. ↑ Heimat- und Burgverein Essen-Burgaltendorf: Die Burg Altendorf , p. 82.
  13. ^ Website of the home and castle association Burgaltendorf , accessed on January 4, 2020.

Coordinates: 51 ° 25 ′ 2 ″  N , 7 ° 7 ′ 26 ″  E