Drachenfels Castle (Siebengebirge)

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Drachenfels Castle
Drachenfels Castle, 17th century engraving with a slide for the stones

Drachenfels Castle, 17th century engraving with a slide for the stones

Creation time : 1138-1149
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Significant remains
Place: Koenigswinter
Geographical location 50 ° 39 '54.7 "  N , 7 ° 12' 36.4"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 39 '54.7 "  N , 7 ° 12' 36.4"  E
Height: 321  m above sea level NHN
Drachenfels Castle (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Drachenfels Castle
Drachenfels castle ruins in their current state
View of Bonn-Mehlem

The Drachenfels castle ruins in the Siebengebirge are the remains of a hilltop castle at 321  m above sea level. NN , which was started in 1138 by Archbishop Arnold I of Cologne and bought and completed in 1149 by Gerhard von Are , provost of Bonn's St. Cassius monastery . It stands on the mountain of the same name, Drachenfels .

Probably the most famous burgrave Godart became very wealthy through the trachyte from the Drachenfels, the most important building material for the Cologne Cathedral .

In 1634 the castle was already damaged and was no longer repaired. In 1638, Swedish Protestant troops captured the Drachenfels and razed the outer works.

In the course of time the trachyte quarries grew up to the top. When there was a threat of complete destruction from 1807 onwards, mining activities were banned, and in 1836 the mountain top was bought by the Prussian government.

On October 18, 1819, students from Bonn moved to the Drachenfels to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig . Among them was Heinrich Heine , who described this fraternity excursion in his poem "The Night on the Drachenfels".

In 1967 there were major rock breaks . From 1971 to 1973 the hilltop was secured with steel anchors and concrete reinforcements.

history

History of origin

In the middle of the 10th century, the Archbishop of Cologne, Brun, received the Grafrerechte, which gave rise to Kurköln , and the influence of the church expanded. The castles played a major role in the expansion of the territories. Usually these were bought.

The Siebengebirge lies at the beginning of the Cologne Bay and the construction of a weir system was only understandable. The large number of castles is evidence of the importance of the location: Rolandseck Castle , Godesburg , Wolkenburg and Drachenfels Castle. The opponents of the Cologne electors also used the Siebengebirge and built the Löwenburg .

Archbishop Arnold I , who in 1138 took the chair of St. Maternus was elected. In 1149 Arnold I realized that he would no longer see the completion and even if the mountain itself supplied the building material, it was an expensive affair. He had come to the conclusion that the building was not necessary because the Archbishopric already owned the Wolkenburg.

Arnold found a new owner for the construction site; the provost of the St. Cassius monastery in Bonn, whose church was today's cathedral . At that time , the owner was Gerhard von Are , who named himself after Are Castle near Altenahr . At that time, owning a castle was a question of reputation and von Are took the opportunity. He completed the construction and thus had effective protection for his Bonn possessions.

Coat of arms of the Drachenfels

Burgraves of Drachenfels

Grave slab of the last Drachenfelsgrave (Heinrich; † 1530)

The management of the castle was entrusted to a burgrave . The fiefdom passed from father to son. The first burgrave was Godart in 1176, son of the burgrave Rudolf von Wolkenburg

The burgraves of Drachenfels are named below . Only the first documentary mention is made.

  • 1176 Godart von Drachenfels
  • 1225 Heinrich von Drachenfels
  • 1258 Godart von Drachenfels
  • 1280 Heinrich von Drachenfels
  • 1308 Rutger von Drachenfels
  • 1331 Heinrich von Drachenfels
  • 1388 Godart von Drachenfels
  • 1432 Johann von Drachenfels
  • 1455 Godart von Drachenfels and Olbrück
  • 1457 Heinrich von Drachenfels and Olbrück
  • 1476 Claus von Drachenfels and Olbrück
  • 1526 Heinrich von Drachenfels and Olbrück

The main line went out in 1530 with the burgrave Heinrich von Drachenfels.

Changing owners

Through Heinrich von Drachenfels' daughter Agnes, her husband Dietrich Herr zu Millendonk and Meiderich acquired the castle in 1550 . With the death of John II of Millendonk , with which this line became extinct, the archbishopric withdrew the castle as a settled fiefdom. In 1623 it was given to the nephew Johannes II, the imperial field marshal Count Johann Jakob von Battenburg-Bronkhorst , who died in 1630.

A new owner was not found until 1642. In return for the payment of 11,000 thalers , Baron Ferdinand Waldbott von Bassenheim zu Gudenau received the Drachenfels rule. The fiefdom remained of this line until it died out. In 1735 the fiefdom was handed over to Freiherr Johann Jakob Waldbott von Bassenheim zu Bornheim . His son sold the fief in 1777 to Baron Clemens August v. d. Vorst-Lombeck zu Gudenau and his son sold the hilltop to the Schäfer brothers in Königswinter in 1813 . In 1827 the Königswinterer Steinhauergewerkschaft acquired this shepherd's property. At that point in time the castle was already in ruins and the purchase of the castle threatened the same fate as the Wolkenburg. The public no longer accepted this without criticism. The Crown Prince of Prussia made himself the trustee for the preservation of the ruins and on April 26, 1836 the state finally became the owner of the hilltop.

Today the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is the owner of the castle ruins, while the slopes of the mountain belong to the improvement association for the Siebengebirge .

Siege and destruction

With the construction of the city ​​wall around Bonn in the middle of the 13th century, Drachenfels Castle lost its importance as a protective fortification.

In 1493 there was a siege. Claus von Drachenfels was slain by his nephew knight Heinrich von Drachenfels. Heinrich's brothers stayed in the castle and the Archbishop of Cologne, Hermann von Hessen , moved in front of the castle. After a long siege, they gave up. It was not until 1526 that the murderer was pardoned and was able to return.

With the conversion of the Cologne Elector Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg to Protestantism , the castle should gain even more importance. In addition to protecting Bonn, it was the possible closure of the Rhine Valley Road that now came into play. Archbishop Ernst von Bayern secured the use of the castle and in 1583 ensured the two owners of the fief, Dietrich and Johann von Millendonk, in a separate contract that they would be compensated for the damage they would suffer from the occupation with arch-foundation troops. Troops were stationed in the castle for five years. In contrast to the Godesburg, which was ruined during a siege during this period, the castle remained intact.

During the Thirty Years War it was once again the scene of fighting. In autumn 1632 the Swedes took the castle under General Baudissin , but a short time later they had to give way to Spanish troops. In 1634 the elector of Cologne lamented the destruction of the castle and gave the income from the castle chapel to the parish church in Königswinter. The lord of the castle of Drachenfels lived at Gudenau Castle and had little or no interest in maintaining the residential buildings and let them fall into disrepair.

From quarry to cultural asset

Drachenfels around 1860

The castle and the hilltop are made of valuable trachyte , which in the Middle Ages was mainly used to build churches . The outer facade of Cologne Cathedral consisted only of Drachenfels trachyte until construction was discontinued around 1528. The lords of the Drachenfels castle used the treasure they were sitting on and sold part of their land to the Cologne cathedral builders.

When the castle was destroyed in 1634, the Ittenbachers were allowed to use the loose stones to build a chapel , but they did not. Much of the castle was preserved until the middle of the 18th century.

In 1788, by the crashed stone crushers undercut southwest side of the keep , which at the side of the Rhine standing residential building and a portion of the band in the depth. In 1827 the stone breakers bought the castle. That would have been the end. The public informed the Prussian government about the situation. The king issued in 1829 a cabinet order, with the purchase of the summit was arranged by the state. When the state became the owner in 1836, the Kölner Zeitung wrote: “More than ever, the Drachenfels will find its visitors and with it the recognition that Germany’s wide districts have only a few points to offer that make this, the pride of the Rhineland , more picturesque Equal to beauty. "

It was the romanticism of this time that saved the ruins, and in 1855 the construction of a huge support pillar was financed from the funds of a disposition fund, which saved the rock from slipping and thus the keep from further destruction (see photo; the castle ruins around 1860 ). The existing ruins were repaired by the government in 1891/1892.

In 1967 there was a major rock fall and a geological survey showed that the crest had become unstable. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia financed extensive security measures that began in November 1971 and ended in 1973. For this purpose, the hotel facilities were first torn down, only the Burgschänke built in 1936 remained. Steel anchors were driven through the entire mountain top on the west and south sides and hold them together. The individual anchors are connected to one another by concrete reinforcement. In 1976 the characteristic mountain restaurant was completed, which u. a. was demolished in 2011 due to declining visitor numbers and replaced by a smaller new building.

Construction remains

Architectural drawings and the like have been lost over the centuries; What the Drachenfels Castle once looked like is no longer known in detail. Only the innumerable drawings and paintings, especially from the left bank of the Rhine, are the most important basis for a reconstruction. So far, no drawing has appeared in close proximity.

Clearly and still recognizable today, the castle consisted of three parts. On the one hand the keep , identical to the square tower, then the main castle , identical to the visitor platform and the lower castle or outer castle , part of which you can see when entering the ruin.

The lowest castle

When you are on the terrace with the obelisk you can turn around. On the right side you can see the castle restaurant and behind it the old castle tavern from 1936. When you have passed the tavern, you can see the mountain station of the Drachenfelsbahn behind the building . The entrance to the ruin is almost straight ahead. Right at the beginning of the complex on the right-hand side there is a round tower that protected the door entrance. The fact that the tower was once two-story can be seen from the preserved corbels that support the beams for the floor. The reveal of this entrance to the castle is still there. It is no longer known whether there were further entrances to the castle; an iron-studded gate on the south side, which does not exist today, would certainly have been the first to be "removed". Before you finally pass the entrance, you can see the foundation of the east side of the outer bailey to the left of the entrance.

After entering the ruin, you can choose two paths to the plateau, left a short and steep path and straight ahead one that goes along the north wall. The description follows this path, the north face consists of loopholes and beam holes. In the holes were the supports for the battlements, on which the riflemen stood, protected by battlements. At the end of this path we come to a small plateau on which a monument has been standing since 1914. Behind it you can still see part of the north wall, which is only a little away from the edge of the former quarry. The path leading to the summit is about ten meters lower. It is known that a knight's hall and a residential building were located here , and the chapel stood here. Furthermore, one could suspect stables here. If you go up further, you come to the south side of the outer bailey. There is nothing left here either. Based on a report on a rock fall from 1788, it is known that the kitchen and rooms for the service were located here. On the basis of drawings, one can recognize a square tower in the southwest side of the castle, obviously a residential building, which was designed as a mighty tower.

Main castle

You are back at the obelisk from 1914. The path here makes a sharp bend to the left. After a few steps you come to the entrance to the main castle. In the wall on the left you can find rounded pieces of wall which, along with the drawings from the 16th century, show that there was a tall building there. There must have been a corner turret in the wall that controlled the entire area that you passed before. The path now goes to the right, and a couple of indicated steps lead to the visitors' plateau. The keep can be seen diagonally to the left. If you move on, you can see remains of the wall with a window on the right side. This is also called the " Cologne Window ".

Keep

In the center of the main castle, which rises dungeon . On the southwest side, a part probably crashed in 1788, which gives it a simple elegance, numerous drawings and later photos from the last 200 years have placed this part in the center of their representation. This part of the castle is 25 m high, 10.5 m wide and 9.20 m deep. Half of the south wall and almost the entire west wall were lost in the fall.

It has three floors, the lowest floor usually has no entrance and was only illuminated by sparse slits of light, these are still preserved on the east and south sides. The entrance was on the east side of the middle floor. The floor above has three windows, one of which is still in its original state on the east side. Remnants show that there was still a staircase here to reach the tower crown. The highest points on the Drachenfels are two lightning rods on the battlements. In between, the antenna is amateur radio - relay station DB0SB (analog radiotelephone , ATV and HAMNET -Datenfunk), which at the same time a current image provides the southern Rhine Valley.

outlook

Panoramic view from Drachenfels Castle

When the weather is clear and with good eyesight, you can see Cologne's taller buildings, including the two spiers of Cologne Cathedral or the television tower, which rise well above the horizon. When you then go to the parapet, you realize that a considerable part of the castle fell victim to the stone breakers here. For this you will be rewarded with an excellent view of the region. No trees or buildings obstruct the view of the Rhine over a distance of approx. 50 km. The Rhine appears at Unkel . The Westerwald and the Eifel prevent you from being able to see further. The entire valley area of Bad Honnef with the islands of Grafenwerth and Nonnenwerth can be clearly recognized . Looking to the right you can see Mehlem and Bad Godesberg with the Godesburg. This district of Bonn has the first foothills of the wooded Eifel in its back, so that certain villages and especially the city of Meckenheim are hidden behind the hills. Further to the right you can see Bonn, which is more northerly, the buildings in the federal quarter are particularly noticeable , the two tallest buildings in the federal city , one behind the other -  Post Tower and Langer Eugen  - particularly stand out. The shadowy outlines of Cologne can only be seen in good weather. If you look down, you can see Königswinter and all the cities on the right bank of the Rhine, until they disappear into the horizon through the increasingly flatter viewing angle and in the haze.

Landsturm Monument (1914)

Landsturm monument

Since May 1914 there has been an approximately five meter high replica of the first Landsturm monument from 1814 in memory of the fallen fighters of the voluntary Landsturm of the Siebengebirge in the course of the Wars of Liberation 1813-1815.

tourism

With the end of Napoleonic rule and the beginning of Romanticism , there was heavy tourist traffic on the Rhine. The visit of George Gordon Byron in May 1816 made the Drachenfels ruin internationally known.

photos

  • Original steel engraving after Tombleson, around 1840

  • Landsturm Monument (approx. 1857)

  • Inn with a monument

  • The castle ruins around 1900

  • Drachenfels castle ruins (left) as seen from Petersberg at dawn

literature

  • Heinrich Neu: The Drachenfels. History and description of a Rhenish castle. Cologne 1949 (3rd, presumably edition Königswinter 1972).
  • Winfried Biesing: Drachenfelser Chronik. Cologne 1980.
  • Alexander Thon, Ansgar S. Klein: Drachenfels castle ruins. Regensburg 2007; 2nd updated and improved edition 2014, ISBN 978-3-7954-6652-7 .
  • Alexander Thon, Stefan Ulrich: "... like a monarch enthroned in the middle of his court". Castles on the Lower Middle Rhine . Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-7954-2210-3 , pp. 46-53.
  • Edmund Renard : The art monuments of the Siegkreis . Printed by and published by L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1907, pp. 109–115. (= Paul Clemen (Hrsg.): Die Kunstdenkmäler der Rheinprovinz , Volume 5, Section 4, pp. 809-815) (Unchanged reprint Verlag Schwann-Bagel, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-590-32120-2 ) ( Internet Archive ).

Remarks

  1. ↑ The additional title was created through the marriage of Godart von Drachenfels with Elisabeth von Eich. His son sold his share in Olbrück Castle , the title was retained.
  2. ↑ In 1493 Claus von Drachenfels was killed by his cousin Heinrich near the Kuckstein. At the presumed crime scene (in front of the Nibelungenhalle) there is a cross today.

Web links

Commons : Drachenfels Castle

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ministry for Building, Housing, Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, Section VI B 4: Special properties. (No longer available online.) In: Internet site. Ministry of Building, Housing, Urban Development and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, July 7, 2017, archived from the original on July 7, 2017 ; Retrieved July 7, 2017 .
  2. ↑ IGFS eV: IGFS eV - DB0SB. Retrieved October 23, 2017 .