Elkofen Castle

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Elkofen Castle
Elkofen Castle-9.jpg
Alternative name (s): Elkhofen Castle, Unterelkhofen, Ölkhofen
Creation time : 1000 to 1100
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Receive
Standing position : Count
Place: Grafing near Munich - Unterelkofen
Geographical location 48 ° 1 '50 "  N , 11 ° 58' 18"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 1 '50 "  N , 11 ° 58' 18"  E
Height: 514  m above sea level NN
Elkofen Castle (Bavaria)
Elkofen Castle

The castle Elkofen even lock Elkofen, Unterelkofen, Ölkofen called, is one of the best preserved castles in Upper Bavaria and is located in Unterelkofen to 514  m above sea level. NN near the city of Grafing near Munich in the Ebersberg district . The castle is still inhabited today by the Rechberg-Rothenlöwen family, who owned it between 1664 and 1732 and acquired it again in 1871.

history

The hilltop castle , the keep of which was probably built as a residential tower in the 10th century , was built in the 11th century by the Counts of Sempt-Ebersberg , to whom Elkhofen was subordinate around 1000, and around 1040 "Ellencophan" was mentioned as a gift from the counts from Ebersberg to Ebersberg Monastery . From 1382 to 1384 the castle passed to the Wittelsbach family , was captured in the Bavarian house dispute in 1439 and passed to Bavaria-Landshut in 1447 . In 1506 the castle was sold to the rent master Wolf Lenkhofer, from 1515 to 1585 it was owned by Hildebrand Kutscher and from 1664 to 1732 it was owned by the Count von Rechberg-Rothenlöwen , who built the mining industry from 1665 to 1676.

In 1632 the Swedish army moved through the area as part of the Thirty Years' War , but due to the sheltered location in a valley and surrounded by forests, the castle is said not to have been discovered by the Swedes and was therefore spared from destruction. However, this version is classified as a legend by the historian Michael Weithmann . He attributes the preservation of the medieval complex to the efforts of the long-standing Rechberg family.

At the end of the 17th century the castle was converted into a hunting lodge and in 1800 a park was created in place of the moat.

The hunting lodge has been in the possession of the Counts von Rechberg-Rothenlöwen since 1871, who in 1885 had Gabriel von Seidl build the Ludwig-Heinrichsbau in the previous dog kennel. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the facility was refurbished and restored.

Today the place is used as landscape formative monument D-1-75-122-57 "hilltop castle site, so-called Castle Elkofen, begun in the 11th century, consisting of upper courtyard with dungeon , Palas , bower , Dürnitzstock and battlements , mostly late Gothic, 14th 16th century, partly new construction by Gabriel von Seidl in 1885, outer bailey with St. George's castle chapel from 1516, gate entrances and auxiliary buildings mostly from the 17th century, e.g. Partly redesigned and expanded in the 19th century; Castle fortification with former moat and driveways ”recorded by the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation .

description

Altar of Mary from the Elkofen Castle Chapel ( Master von Rabenden and Workshop, around 1517–1520), Bavarian National Museum, Munich

The current appearance of the hill fort, which is partly on an artificially sloping hill, is essentially late Gothic and was surrounded by a ring-shaped moat until 1800 .

Characteristic is the massive six-storey, rectangular, 33-meter-high keep with a crooked hip roof , a high entrance at a height of 18 meters and a wall thickness of 2.25 meters on the ground floor.

The castle complex shows a three-storey palace with late Gothic structures, on the south side, in front of the tower, a Gothic walled battlement on an older curtain wall . The entrance to the outer bailey leads through an arched gate with a segment arch .

The castle chapel , which is dedicated to Saint George , was built in 1516 and redesigned in Baroque style in 1720 . The winged altar from 1517 to 1520 is in the Bavarian National Museum .

The castle is privately owned and today also serves as a conference venue.

literature

  • Michael W. Weithmann: Inventory of the castles of Upper Bavaria . 3rd revised and expanded edition. Published by the district of Upper Bavaria, Munich 1995, pp. 450–454.
  • Werner Meyer : Castles in Upper Bavaria - A manual . Weidlich Verlag, Würzburg 1986, ISBN 3-8035-1279-4 , pp. 69-71.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Location of the castle in the Bavaria Atlas
  2. ↑ Michael Weithmann: Knights and Castles in Upper Bavaria . Bayerland Verlag, Dachau 1999, p. 23.
  3. ↑ List of monuments for Grafing (PDF) at the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation (PDF; 140 kB)