Eisenhardt Castle
| Eisenhardt Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 Eisenhardt Castle from the south |
||
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Preserved essential parts | |
| Standing position : | Count and Duke Castle | |
| Construction: | Brick and field stone | |
| Place: | Bad Belzig | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 8 '16 " N , 12 ° 35' 5" E | |
|
||
The Burg Eisenhardt is a well-preserved in large parts of castle on the southwestern edge of the city of Bad Belzig .
location
The Höhenburg is located on a hill of the Hohen Fläming on the southwestern edge of the district town Bad Belzig in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district in Brandenburg . The hill on which the castle is located is called Bricciusberg. About 50 meters southwest of the castle is the small St. Briccius Church and an extensive forest adjoins it.
history
.jpg)
Belzig was first mentioned in a document in 997 as Burgward . In the area of the castle there is said to have been a hilltop settlement from the late Bronze and Iron Ages . North of this hilltop settlement is the Slavic rampart burgwardium belizi from the 9th to 11th centuries, which was presumably the center of the Slavic Gau Ploni and belonged to the settlement area of the Hevellers . Emperor Otto III transferred this rampart in 997 . the ore monastery of Magdeburg . However, since there had already been an uprising of the Slavs in 983 , in which most of the areas east of the Elbe fell back into the hands of pagan Slavs, no rule was exercised over the areas in the east and thus also not over Belzig and the surrounding area. This condition existed for almost 200 years until 1157 Albrecht the Bear was able to recapture Brandenburg. After centuries of conflict, the castle wall came into the possession of the Ascanians in the 12th century . In 1161 the Burgward was placed under the diocese of the Diocese of Brandenburg . Forty years later a Count von Belzig was mentioned for the first time. He came from the family of the bathing Riche. Count Siegfried von Belzig had a massive Romanesque stone castle built for the first time . With the death of the last Count of Belzig after 1251, the castle and the surrounding area fell to the Duchy of Saxony . A market settlement, a so-called oppidum Belzig, was first mentioned in a document in 1269 . From this the later city developed. The castle itself formed an estate district and belonged to the municipality of Sandberg , which was not incorporated into Belzig until 1914.
Around 1305, Duke Rudolf I began to greatly expand the castle and the fortifications. The market settlement was also surrounded by a wall and in 1358 Belzig was granted city rights. In 1423/1425 the castle fell to the House of Wettin with the Saxon electoral dignity .
Starting around 1477, the Wettins expanded the castle at great expense into a highly modern fortress and expanded the gatehouse into a princely apartment. At that time the rondelles for defense with hook rifles and medium artillery and the connecting walls were built. At that time, the court architect Arnold von Westfalen from the Electorate of Saxony was active at Eisenhardt Castle and perhaps the modern designs for the rondelles came from this important master builder.
During the Thirty Years' War , the structure was badly damaged by Swedish troops in 1636 . With its restoration was only in the 1680s under Elector Johann Georg III. began. After completion of the renovations, Johann Georg III consecrated the building. Eisenhardt in 1691 new.
In the 18th century, major renovations took place mainly inside the castle. After the wars of liberation and the subsequent Congress of Vienna , Prussia made extensive gains in former Saxon territories. In 1815, the previously Saxon office of Belzig was incorporated into the Kingdom of Prussia and the Province of Brandenburg . From 1815 to 1845 the gatehouse was used by the Belzig District and City Court. The newly established district office of the district of Zauch-Belzig moved into the castle in 1828 and used its premises until 1894. In 1849, the Eisenhardt was restored under the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV . From 1936 to 1945 the Reichsschule Technische Aid was based in Eisenhardt.
During the time of the GDR a vocational school , a special school and a school kitchen were housed. In addition, the premises were used as a youth hostel and music school. Further facilities were a youth club, the registry office of the city of Belzig, a local museum and a station for young naturalists and technicians . Today the castle houses a local history museum, a branch of the registry office of the city of Bad Belzig, a library with a focus on the castle history and a hotel. Since 1998 the band Keimzeit has been playing regular open-air concerts in the courtyard of the castle in summer.
investment
The outer ring wall of the castle complex has an irregular heptagonal shape with rondelles on the respective corners. The two southern rondels are integrated into the gatehouse, which was later expanded to look like a castle . In the individual rondelles of the fortress wall, which were used for the main defense, there were chambers with loopholes that made it possible to use fortress guns. The walls of the roundabouts were reinforced. Inside the largest, the north-east roundabout, there is an eight-meter-deep cistern that served as a water reservoir. The north gate is located between the north roundabout and the north-east roundabout.
By far the most conspicuous building of Eisenhardt Castle is the keep in the inner courtyard. It was built from field stones at the beginning of the 13th century. In the north-western area, its outer walls were renewed with red bricks in 1859 . The keep is round and 28 meters high and is used as a lookout tower. In the middle floor there is a round arch opening that served as an entrance. Here was a toilet niche and a fireplace. The basement was used as a dungeon .
To the south is the gatehouse. As a double tower gate, it was built from rock in the 15th century and clad with bricks on the outside. From 1477 it was expanded into a hunting lodge. After the devastation of the Thirty Years War, it was renewed from 1685 to 1691. The roundel-like towers on the right and left were cut and brought under a uniform roof with the gatehouse. The facade was changed in the Baroque style. The windows of the gatehouse, both in the central building and in the risalits, are now rectangular windows of various sizes. Some are provided with wrought iron window bars. There are two segment-arched panels above the outer arched gate passage . The keystone of the basket arch of the gateway is decorated with the coat of arms of the Electorate of Saxony . Inside the gateway there is a vault . In the area of the roof there are some dormers . The former drawbridge to the gatehouse has been replaced by a brick bridge.
The former salt store is on the east side of the gatehouse. This was built as a granary in the early 16th century from the outer brick wall. At first it served as a granary, later it was used as a salt store. There are round, basket and segment arched windows of various generations. The portals are designed in the shape of a basket. In the roof there are dormers on two floors. In 1930 the salt store was converted into a residential area. On the west side of the gatehouse there are two single-storey brick buildings.
Inside the courtyard there are two single-story plastered buildings and the castle fountain . There are also foundations of a former Romanesque chapel and other buildings, such as a palas . There are also remains of the older inner wall here. The castle chapel was a three-part stone building from the early 13th century. It was discovered during excavations in 1993.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The historian Ralf Gebuhr explained in a public lecture in November 2004 that the Hussites in Magdeburg in 1429 did not get beyond Luckau and therefore could not have besieged the castle, see MAZ article from November 6, 2004
- ^ Photo by Gregor Rom: Information panel on the historical development of Eisenhardt Castle - starting point for Belzig's history , January 9, 2014.
- ^ Photo by Gregor Rom: Information board for the use of the castle complex , January 9, 2014
- ↑ Langer 2007.
- ^ Photo by Gregor Rom: Information board Romanesque chapel and wall tower , January 9, 2014
literature
- Thomas Langer: The Eisenhardt Castle in Belzig - A fortress built in the Electorate of Saxony in the 15th century . In: Castle research from Saxony 24 (2011).
- Thomas Langer: The gatehouse of Eisenhardt Castle in Belzig: A late Gothic conversion under the direction of the builder Arnold von Westfalen . In: Late Gothic palace construction in Central Germany. Conference proceedings. 2007, pp. 155-167.
- Thomas Langer: The late Romanesque castle chapel in Belzig . In: Burgenforschung aus Sachsen 20 (2007), pp. 73–90.
- Thomas Langer: Belzig. Current research results on the building history of Eisenhardt Castle . In: Brandenburgische Denkmalpflege 6 (1997), issue 1, pp. 66–73.
- Thomas Langer: Current research results on the building history of the Romanesque castle Belzig, Potsdam-Mittelmark district . In: Publications of the Brandenburg State Museum for Prehistory and Early History 29, 1995, pp. 13–28.
- Felix Theodor Mühlmann: Walk through the history of the city of Belzig, the Eisenhardt castle and the surrounding area , Belzig 1870 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Entry in the monument database of the State of Brandenburg
- Description of the castle on the homepage of the city of Bad Belzig ( Memento from May 19, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
- Current usage with address and opening times
- Eisenhardt Castle: cannon towers protected Saxony's border
- Reconstruction drawing in the medieval state
- Eisenhardt Castle at Burgenarchiv.de
- Romanesque routes in Berlin and Brandenburg - Bad Belzig, Burg and Marienkirche