Berneck Castle (Tyrol)

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Berneck Castle
Berneck Castle

Berneck Castle

Alternative name (s): Bergnegg
Creation time : Early 13th century
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Preserved or substantial parts preserved
Place: Kauns
Geographical location 47 ° 4 '33 "  N , 10 ° 42' 7"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 4 '33 "  N , 10 ° 42' 7"  E
Height: 1076  m above sea level A.
Berneck Castle (Tyrol)
Berneck Castle

The castle Berneck (also Castle Bernegg ) is a medieval hilltop castle at Kauns in Tirol .

Location and function

The castle stands east of the end of the village of Kauns at 1,076 meters above sea level. To the south it is built directly on a rock face that drops 130 meters deep into the valley of the Faggenbach . In the west a steep slope descends into the Kaunertal . In the north and east, the castle is only separated from the surrounding area by a slightly elevated position on a hill. The castle is of little strategic importance. It was very likely built to secure the traffic route over the Piller . On the opposite side of the Inn valley lies Laudegg Castle in eye contact .

owner

The beginnings of the castle are in the dark. The castle was first mentioned in 1225. The gentlemen von Berneck are named as owners . Blasius von Berneck died childless in 1396 and the fief went to his brother Zacharias von Berneck, whose marriage to Barbara von Laatsch also remained childless. The castle fell to Margareta, the daughter of the third brother Friedrich. She married first Viktor von Firmian and after his death Sigmund von Anneberg , who took over the castle in 1415. The Annebergers joined the aristocratic party against Duke Friedrich and then temporarily lost the castle, but got it back and sold it in 1435 to the Swiss Hans Wilhelm von Mülinen .

As a result, the fiefdoms changed quite often. After von Mülinen in 1457, Hans Kripp bought the castle and his son sold it to Hilprant Rasp zu Laufenbach. His daughter married Albrecht Rindsmaul , who sold the castle to Christian Tänzl in 1488. In 1499 the Roman-German King Maximilian exchanged the castle for Tratzberg Castle . In 1530 the salt lords of Zott (also Zoten von Berneck ) acquired the castle from the Habsburgs and from 1667 it was owned by the Fieger . In 1699 it was bought by Franz Christoph von Rassler . In 1728 it came into the possession of the Barons von Pach , the owners of the neighboring Bidenegg Castle near Fliess . In 1932 (or 1934) the brothers Harald and Vitus Pach sold half of the castle to Gottfried Knabl and Anton Kathrein. In 1961 Max Kathrein bought the other half of the castle from Ida Knabl and sold the entire castle to Rolf Roland in the same year. In 1976 the Innsbruck architect Ekkehard Hörmann bought the castle, had it restored and had his studio in it.

Building history

As already mentioned, little is known about the beginnings of the castle. It is believed that it was built by the Lords of Berneck at the beginning of the 13th century. The old castle was probably very badly damaged during the quarrel between the Anneberger and Duke Friedrich. As a result, it was rebuilt by Hans Wilhelm von Mülinen as a late Gothic residential castle. After this expansion in the 15th century it represented one of the largest and most beautiful in the area. What is striking is the use of yellow tuff for window and door frames, window crosses , Eckquader and corbels . Also noteworthy is the castle chapel , which is dedicated to St. Bartholomew and contains significant late Gothic frescoes . The altar of the chapel is carved directly out of the rock. There is an open pulpit in the Kapellenhof.

In 1775 the Pachs took out a loan of 1500 guilders for a renovation, and in 1819 the complex was restored as a summer residence. From 1870, however, Berneck fell into disrepair, and in the 20th century the decline progressed rapidly. Due to its decay, the oldest Gothic room in North Tyrol, which Hans Wilhelm von Mülinen had furnished in 1437, was dismantled and taken to the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum . It has been open to the public again since it was renovated in 2007.

It was not until Ekkehard Hörmann bought the castle and the subsequent renovation from 1977 to 1983 that Berneck was saved from final ruin. The renovation of the castle chapel with funds from the Munich Messerschmitt Foundation was completed in 1987.

  • Berneck Castle (Tyrol), north side with entrances and shield wall

  • Berneck Castle (Tyrol), view from Kaunertalstrasse

  • The castle from the northwest driveway

  • Access to the castle with a view of the Kaunertal

Building description

The castle, which is narrow but elongated in a slight arc from west to east, has two stone buildings at both ends; the massive, square, four-storey, towering over the defensive walls and crowned with battlements about 20 meters high keep as a closure to the west in the direction of the easiest access. The former two-storey tower is actually a residential tower and was extended by one floor each under Maximilian and Wilhelm von Mülinen.

To the south, the defensive wall is crowned with a double half-timbered structure exposed over the Kaunertal . The approximately 80 meter long and 9 meter high castle wall in the north is designed as a defiant shield wall , but today has incorporated windows and a former toilet bay. Below this another castle gate, above which remains of frescoes are still visible. The iron-studded gate is equipped with a manhole . Behind this gate is a small kennel that leads to another inner gate. The half-timbered structure of the north wall is only visible from the narrow inner courtyards . In the middle a simple castle gate as access. The castle can be visited on guided tours between June and September.

The late Gothic castle chapel, located almost at the east end of the complex, is separated from the actual palace by the chapel courtyard , which is leaning against the north wall in the middle of the castle. Its thick walls in the eastern part suggest that the original keep was located here and that it was dismantled during the renovation in the 15th century and integrated into the hall.

literature

  • Beatrix Pinzer, Egon Pinzer: castles, palaces, ruins in North and East Tyrol. Ed. Löwenzahn, Innsbruck 1996, ISBN 3-7006-2122-3 .
  • Waltraud Comploy: The castles of Tyrol on the uppermost Inn (= Art History Studies. Vol. 1, ZDB -ID 185597-9 = Publications of the University of Innsbruck. Vol. 74). Commission publisher of the Austrian Commission bookstore, Innsbruck 1972 (at the same time: Innsbruck, Univ., Diss., 1968).

Web links

Commons : Burg Berneck  - Collection of images, videos and audio files