Aremberg Castle

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Aremberg Castle
Lookout tower, built in 1854 from stone ruins

Lookout tower, built in 1854 from stone ruins

Creation time : First mentioned in 1166
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Remnants of moats, walls and bastions
Standing position : Nobles
Place: Aremberg
Geographical location 50 ° 25 '1.9 "  N , 6 ° 48' 51.2"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 25 '1.9 "  N , 6 ° 48' 51.2"  E
Height: 623  m above sea level NHN
Aremberg Castle (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Aremberg Castle
View from the sports field of a school camp to the northeast to the mountain Aremberg with the village of Aremberg
Observation tower (aerial photo; 2014)

The Aremberg Castle near Aremberg in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Ahrweiler is the ruin of a medieval hilltop castle on the Aremberg in the Ahr Mountains ( Eifel ).

Geographical location

The ruin is located on the densely forested Aremberg ( 623.8  m above sea  level ), one of the largest tertiary volcanoes in the Eifel, in the area of ​​the local community Aremberg. The village itself is on the western slope of the mountain, below the hilltop.

Castle complex

It is mentioned for the first time in 1166, at that time under the name "Arberg". In the 12th century a castle was built on the mountain because this location was strategically favorable.

The Aremberg Castle was the center of the Arenberg rulership of the same name , whose family still flourishes in Belgium and South America and has a large fortune. Although the rule was very small in terms of area, numerous family members knew how to exert great influence at the Viennese court, so that the family rose from counts to princes and ultimately to dukes. The (sparse) remains of the castle that have survived today hardly bear witness to this splendor.

From 1564 the castle was completely renovated and expanded by the Jülich fortress builder (presumably Johann I) von Pasqualini . In 1642 there was a siege by Hessian troops under Major General Rosen. The taking of the fortification could be prevented by the relief of Spanish troops under Count Ernst von Isenburg.

As loyal supporters of the Habsburg emperor, the Arenbergers succeeded in continuously raising their rank from imperial count (1549) to sovereign duke (1644). The modern fortress construction on the Aremberg can also be seen in this context. This expansion was initiated, designed (1642/3) and directed by the Capuchin monk Karl / Charles (Anton von Arenberg 1593–1669), who was an uncle of the first duke. Father Karl was the "builder" (fabricien) of the Flemish Order Province, where he built the Capuchin monasteries of Tervuren and Brussels . In 1660, Father Mansuet from Neufchâteau took over the construction management, supported by Lieutenant Billaut. In 1674, the fortress construction is considered complete.

In 1679, after the Peace of Nijmegen, the Duke dismissed his garrison troops, which turned out to be fatal. Three years later, the castle, now almost defenseless, was taken by French troops under Jehannot de Bartillat. Among other things, 46 iron guns, around 10,000 pounds of powder, over 3,300 iron balls, around 4,000 grenades and 306 muskets were captured. Vauban inspected the fortress and came to the damning verdict that there was no reason for the French king to have a fortress here. Nevertheless, the French pursued an expansion of the fortress as a base for 2-3000 soldiers. But it came to a momentous accident when a wrongly applied blast changed the water balance of the Aremberg. As a result, all of the castle's wells dried up. Therefore, the occupiers left this location after just one year. The fortress itself was rendered unusable by large-scale demolitions.

lock

Around 1720 the complex was rebuilt by the dukes and converted into a castle. The next setback came on October 13, 1794. As a harbinger of the French revolutionary troops, a French soldier demanded that his general, a commissioner and several officers be billeted in the castle. The ducal family then vacated the property and moved to the Netherlands. In 1803 Jean Gaspard Villmart finally bought the "Castle on the Aremberg" and had it demolished in 1809. Remnants from all construction periods have been preserved, such as the moat with wall, bastions of the fortress and twelve linden trees from the former castle garden.

Observation tower

A few years after the demolition, Gottfried Kinkel visited the field of ruins and this sight, as well as the bitter poverty of the Aremberg population, filled him with pain, because the once flourishing village had become a poor village. He later reported on this in his book Die Ahr (1846). In 1854 an approximately 17 m high observation tower was built on the former castle grounds , which stands near a 623  m high mountain point and consists of stones from the former castle complex . It has not been used as a lookout tower for decades due to the tree growth. Likewise, the museum that used to be there no longer exists. The tower is locked today.

literature

  • Gerold Rosenthal (Ed.): Aremberg in past and present . Warlich, Meckenheim 1987, ISBN 3-9800970-7-2 .
  • Heinrich Neu: The Duchy of Aremberg. History of a territory in the Eifel . Volksblatt-Verlag, Euskirchen 1938, OCLC 917782488 .
  • Peter Neu: The Arenberger and the Arenberger Land (=  publications of the State Archives Administration Rhineland-Palatinate. Volume 52 ). tape 1 : From the beginning to 1616 . Koblenz 1989, ISBN 3-922018-70-X .
  • Peter Neu: The Arenberger and the Arenberger Land (=  publications of the State Archives Administration Rhineland-Palatinate. Volume 67 ). tape 2 : The ducal family and their Eifel estates 1616–1794 . Koblenz 1995, ISBN 3-931014-26-6 .
  • Peter Neu: The Arenberger and the Arenberger Land (=  publications of the State Archives Administration Rhineland-Palatinate. Volume 68 ). tape 3 : Economy, everyday life and culture in the 17th and 18th centuries . Koblenz 1995, ISBN 3-931014-27-4 .
  • Klaus T. Weber: Arenberg Fortress. The fortress of a Capuchin monk. In: Fortresses in Rhineland-Plant and Saarland. 2018, ISBN 978-3-7954-3077-1 , pp. 48–56.

Web links

Commons : Burg Aremberg  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate Nature Conservation Administration (LANIS map) ( notes )
  2. ↑ The Aremberg - its magical forest hides a great story , accessed on February 1, 2013, on nordeifel.de
  3. ↑ a b The history of Aremberg Castle and Fortress (continued), accessed on February 1, 2013, on nordeifel.de