Are Castle

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Are Castle
Are castle ruins

Are castle ruins

Creation time : From 1095 to 1105
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Count
Place: Altenahr
Geographical location 50 ° 31 '2.5 "  N , 6 ° 59' 41"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 31 '2.5 "  N , 6 ° 59' 41"  E
Height: 240  m above sea level NHN
Are Castle (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Are Castle

The Burg Are the listed ruins of a hilltop castle on 240  m above sea level. NHN above the municipality of Altenahr in Rhineland-Palatinate . It was built from 1095 to 1105 by Count Dietrich I of Are and first mentioned in 1121.

Since 1965 the Are Gymnasium Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler has borne the name in reference to the castle and the noble family of the same name .

Building description

The floor plan of the castle is a square. In addition to parts of the outer bailey and a gate - the so-called Gymnicher Porz - remains of the defensive wall have also been preserved. In addition, there is an old gate tower (also known as the bell tower ) on the south side of the complex , next to it the ruins of the palace , which once had a heated bishop's chamber. On the sharp rocky outcrop in the north corner probably was the first dungeon . To the north of it extensive remains of the Romanesque castle chapel from the 12th century have been preserved.

Gatehouse Gymnicher Porz

Gymnicher Porz (bottom left) with the ruins of the castle house

Below the Are Castle are the remains of the Gymnicher Porz, where Porz stands for gate. It was a lower gate system on the approach to the castle, which sealed off the castle hill in connection with a wall. The facility consisted of a gatehouse over the access road, an attached castle house with a basement and two floors with living rooms and an adjoining castle tower. The name is based on the gender of those von Gymnich . In the 14th and 16th centuries, some relatives were at times pledges of the castle. It is believed that the gate system was built during this time. At times, the Gymnicher Porz served as an independent Burglehen those of Gymnich .

Redevelopment

From 1997 to 1999 the ruin was secured and placed under monument protection at great expense . Since then it has been open to the public again. The renovation, which began in March 1997, primarily served to ensure traffic safety . There was a risk that stones in the facility would fall onto the main road that passed below. A Hughes 500 helicopter carried the building materials on a rope to the castle ruins. After 30 flights, the loaded helicopter crashed on April 9, 1997 because the load rope got caught in the runners. The pilot suffered fatal injuries.

In autumn 1997, the 22-meter-long palace wall with the two side walls was restored . To ensure the stability of the walls, 65 anchors were driven up to 14 meters deep into the slate rock.

history

Altenahr and Are Castle around 1900

In 1246, Count Friedrich von Hochstaden , provost of Xanten , gave the county with the castles Are, Hardt and Hochstaden to the archbishopric of Cologne with the consent of his brother Konrad von Are-Hochstaden . The extension buildings with extensive defensive walls were built in the Electoral Cologne period during the 14th and 15th centuries to protect the Electoral Cologne possessions in the Ahr area. In the 16th and 17th centuries, there were only minor changes to the building fabric through repairs and replacement buildings. At times the castle also served as a prison, in which the Cologne archbishops imprisoned unpleasant opponents in order to make them compliant. For a long time Are Castle was the spiritual and cultural center for the entire area.

The Archbishops of Cologne pledged Are Castle with the Altenahr office more often. The pledges were each used as bailiffs and many of them also lived in the castle. The structural condition of the castle complex was poor for longer periods of time, as the pledgee did not allow the necessary repairs to be carried out. The time of Heinrich von der Horst, who died in 1625, was an exception with a structurally very good condition.

In 1690 the castle was conquered for the first time after nine months of siege by French troops. The castle was badly damaged by the bombardment. The French withdrew in 1697, but occupied the castle again from the War of Spanish Succession that began in 1701 . In 1706 troops from the Electorate of Cologne took over the castle and made the area unsafe. For this reason, Elector Joseph Clemens of Bavaria had the walls blown up in 1714 in agreement with the villagers. Since then the castle has been in ruins. Materials that could still be used, such as wood and stones, were used as building materials for the new building of the office building at the foot of the castle hill.

  • Gymnicher Porz castle and gate around 1830

  • Castle and gate today from a similar perspective

  • Main castle

  • Ruin of the Gymnicher Porz castle house with the remains of a chimney

  • Castle chapel

  • Are Castle, aerial photo (2015)

  • Are Castle, vertical view (2015)

The Counts of Are-Hochstaden

Sigebodo I. , a vassal of the Archbishop of Trier, was the founder of the family of Are. He was first mentioned in a document in 956 and was Count of Are from 964 to 992. The count's family named themselves after the course of the Ahr , the area around which they owned. In 1140 the Are-Hochstaden and Are-Nürburg lines are shared. The sons of the family were:

literature

  • Ignaz Görtz : "Where they tower the highest, the rocks of the Ahr ..." Contribution to the building history of Are Castle . In: Kreisverwaltung Ahrweiler (Ed.): Home yearbook for the Ahrweiler district 1961 . Schiffer, Rheinberg 1961, ISSN  0342-5827 , pp. 94-98 ( online ).
  • Ignaz Görtz: inventory of Altenahr Castle in 1625 . In: Kreisverwaltung Ahrweiler (Hrsg.): Home yearbook for the Ahrweiler district 1963 . Schiffer, Rheinberg 1963, ISSN  0342-5827 , pp. 133-135 ( online ).
  • Christine Schulze: Millions for Are Castle . In: District administration Ahrweiler (Ed.): Home year book of the Ahrweiler district 2000 . Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler 1999, ISSN  0342-5827 , pp. 47-50 ( online ).
  • Joachim Gerhardt, Heinrich Neu: Art monuments of the Ahrweiler district . 1st half band. L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1938, pp. 146–156.

Web links

Commons : Are Castle

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Kempenich: The renovation ended fatally . In: Kreisverwaltung Ahrweiler (Hrsg.): Heimatjahrbuch des Kreis Ahrweiler 1998 . Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler 1999, ISSN  0342-5827 , p. 10 ( online ).