Frankenberg Castle (Aachen)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
View of Frankenberg Castle from the north-west

The Burg Frankenberg , also Frankenburg called, is located in the so-called Frankenberger Quarter , a district of Aachen in North Rhine-Westphalia (between the districts of Burtscheid and Forst ). Its name is derived from the term "Franke", which stands for a free and independent castle . Shortly after it was built, the Niederungsburg became a fiefdom of the counts and later dukes of Jülich, Kleve and Berg .

From 1961 to August 2010, the former moated castle was home to a museum that documented the city history of Aachen from the Stone Age flint mine to the Roman thermal baths up to the time of industrialization .

history

History of the residents and owners

It is historically certain that the castle was the seat of the bailiffs who were charged with protecting the neighboring imperial abbey of Burtscheid . Edmund von Merode is one of those bailiffs , whose father Johann von Merode is mentioned in a document in 1306. Edmund's grandfather Arnold I. von Merode is considered to be the builder of the complex, the origins of which can be found in a well-fortified aristocratic residence and which was built far outside the Aachen city fortifications at that time.

Frankenberg Castle was first mentioned in documents in 1352, and although it was considered a well-secured moated castle, it was  conquered in 1391 by robber knights - the Lords of Schönforst . But apparently they could not enjoy their conquest for long, because already in 1449 the Frankenburg is again in possession of the knight Johann von Merode (called von Frankenberg), who announced the feud of the city of Aachen that year .

The residential building of Frankenberg Castle

His descendant, the Junker Adam III. von Merode-Frankenberg, fought on the side of the Dutch in their striving for independence against Spain, because of which Spanish troops partially destroyed his castle. When Adam III. When the last offspring of the Merode-Frankenberg died during the conquest of Maastricht by the Spaniards without leaving any male heirs, the castle and its land fell to his uncle Johann von Merode-Houffalize in 1583. Duke Wilhelm V von Jülich , known as the Rich , gave the castle to him as a fief. Linked to this was the ducal order to restore the complex. But Johann did not keep to this agreement, and so it was up to his grandson Johann Dietrich to fulfill this task by starting to restore the ailing buildings from 1637. After his early death, the construction work was continued under his son Franz-Ignaz, who was still underage, and was completed in 1661. Frankenberg Castle was thus habitable again. Christian Quix reported in 1832 that the owners of Frankenberg Castle had their firewood fetched with donkeys from the chamber forest (today: Nellessenpark ). The donkey path , which is still available today, served as a supply path and used to run over today's Erzberger Allee; the name Eselsweg is very likely based on these historical contexts.

In 1728 the von Merode-Houffalize family died out with Philipp Wilhelm in the male line, and the castle came as heir to his half-cousin Johann Wilhelm von Merode-Houffalize zu Frenz . However, he preferred to continue to live at the headquarters of his family line, the nearby Kalkofen estate . Frankenberg Castle was left to its own devices and fell into disrepair.

With the introduction of the French constitution in 1793, Frankenberg lost its dependency as a Jülich fief. The last heiress of the von Merode family, Imperial Freifress Regina Petronella Franziska von Merode-Houffalize zu Frenz, sold the property, which has since fallen into ruin, in 1827 for 15,500 thalers to the Aachen district administrator Friedrich Joseph Freiherr von Coels von der Brügghen . He had the facility extensively renovated and modernized between 1834 and 1838 .

34 years later, the Frankenberger Baugesellschaft acquired the entire complex and built a new residential area on the associated land, which is named after the castle Frankenberger Viertel .

At the beginning of the 20th century, the main castle was still being used as a residence and workshop by the well-known engineer and aircraft designer Hugo Junkers .

After the destruction of the Second World War and temporary use as an employment office, the establishment began as a local museum in September 1961, before Frankenberg Castle was repaired for the last time in 1971. The DAS DA Theater has held open-air performances in the courtyard in early summer since 1991 . Mostly plays by William Shakespeare are on the program. The museum was closed in 2010 and it was vacant for several months before the decision was made to rededicate the castle complex as a community and cultural center in early 2012. The local history museum was integrated into the Center Charlemagne in the municipal administration building at Katschhof in 2014 .

Building history

Frankenberg Castle around 1830, oil painting by Ludwig Schleiden
Frankenberg Castle, after von Coels' renovation, but before the outer bailey was torn down; 19th century painting

The legend persisted for a long time that Charlemagne had the castle built (see also the Fastrada saga section), but research has shown that the complex dates from the 13th century, probably from its second half. Due to this dating, the assumption that the Frankenburg was built on the foundation walls of an old Roman watchtower had to be rejected as untenable.

Until the end of the 19th century, the castle complex consisted of a broad outer bailey , a farmyard and the main castle, which was surrounded on all sides with water.

From the time before 1637 no precise building descriptions or building measures are known. Details can only be verified once the building has been repaired by Johann Dietrich von Merode-Houffalize and the associated building log. This protocol lists the numerous structural defects that existed at that time. It is mentioned that the buildings with the exception of the keep had no roofs and many walls collapsed. A wickerwork of brushwood only barely closed the window openings, and the beams and woodwork were rotten. The castle chapel on the first floor - like most of the other rooms on this floor - could not be entered due to the risk of collapse, which completely ruled out a detailed assessment of the second upper floors in the two towers. Using the well in the courtyard was also out of the question, as it was completely filled with rubble.

So it is not surprising that the repair work on the system took several years and could only be completed in 1661. During the restoration, the builders made it a priority to preserve the original character of the building, only the chapel was not refurbished. The work that was carried out gave the manor house a castle-like appearance.

When Friedrich Josef Antonius von Coels had the castle rebuilt between 1834 and 1838, some components were added in accordance with the prevailing taste of the time that were not present on the original complex. So the towers received new upper floors and a crenellated crown . The castle courtyard, which was partially open until then, was also surrounded by a mighty wall with a battlement .

In order to create space for a new residential area in Aachen, the Frankenberger Baugesellschaft reduced the size of the previously generous Frankenberger Park from 1872 on and made a small pond out of the swan pond surrounding the castle. In the course of this, at the end of the 19th century the outer bailey and the farm yard were also demolished.

During the last repair work to date in 1971, some structural changes that had been made between 1834 and 1838 in the Gothic- romantic style were reversed. Among other things, the oversized battlements of the keep were removed again. The castle courtyard was also restored to its originally lower level, which brought the former, filled-in castle well to light.

After the decision was made in 2012 to rededicate the castle as a civic and cultural center, the necessary renovation measures began in spring 2013 and cost around 1.7 million euros. The opening was finally celebrated on August 30, 2014.

description

Floor plan of the castle

The castle complex rises on a small, natural rock cone and has an almost triangular floor plan. On the east side is the three-storey residential building, the facade of which has nine axes through windows. The basement and the ground floor are built of rough stone blocks, while the upper floors masonry of bricks possess. The corners of the building are accentuated by bright, profiled house blocks , as are the window and door walls . A staircase leads to the entrance on the raised ground floor, which has four narrow loopholes .

Under the eaves on the east facade there are small, cross-oval windows. Exception to this is the average of nine axes over the front door, the window instead of a small casting bay has. A hipped roof begins above it and rests on curved console stones.

A short, three-story side wing adjoins the residential building at its south end to the west. The northwest corner of the main building is marked by an octagonal tower, the five floors of which are closed off by a crenellated wreath. As in the main house, the two lower floors of the tower are made of natural stone blocks, while brick was used on the floors above. On the north side of the first floor, the tower has a small balcony resting on two curved corbels . The transitions from the third to the fourth and from the fourth to the fifth floor can be seen on the outside very well through the surrounding stone cornices .

The four storeys of a tower with a horseshoe-shaped floor plan rise at the southwest corner of the castle area. Its walls made of natural stone blocks have narrow loopholes framed by stone on all floors.

The Fastrada legend

Charlemagne received a magic ring as a gift from a snake as a thank you for a judgment he had made in favor of the snake. Karl would forever love the person wearing that ring, claimed the snake. The emperor then gave the ring to his then wife Fastrada .

When she died, Karl's grief was so great that his subjects became concerned about the condition of their master. Archbishop Turpin of Reims finally discovered that the dead woman still tied the emperor to her with her ring. So Turpin pulled the ring from Fastrada's finger and threw it into the pond of Frankenberg Castle.

As a result, Charlemagne was forever associated with this place, and he was drawn there again and again, because he only found inner peace when he sat at the edge of this water and indulged in his dreams.

literature

  • Hans Feldbusch: Frankenberg Castle (= Rheinische Kunststätten. No. 1). 2nd Edition. Gesellschaft für Buchdruckerei AG, Neuss 1977, ISBN 3-88094-193-9 .
  • Karl Emerich Krämer : The Burtscheider Castle. In: Karl Emerich Krämer: Castles in and around Aachen. Mercator-Verlag, Duisburg 1984, ISBN 3-87463-113-3 , pp. 75-78.
  • Adam C. Oellers : Guide through Frankenberg Castle, Aachen. City history and arts and crafts museum. Brimberg, Aachen 1985.
  • Christian Quix : The Frankenburg, commonly called Frankenberg and the Vogtei over Burtscheid. Urlichs, Aachen 1829 ( digitized version ).
  • Mirjam Swistun, Sandra Fritsch: The Frankenberg Castle. Project exercise at RWTH Aachen, Aachen 2005 ( PDF , 208 kB).

Web links

Commons : Burg Frankenberg  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich von Schwartzenberg: Between Beverbach and Gillesbach. In: Society Burtscheid for past and present (ed.): Writings. Volume 2, 2nd edition. 1987, p. 84, with reference to Christian Quix: Historical-topographical description of the city of Burtscheid. Aachen 1832, p. 16.
  2. ↑ Martina Rippholz: Frankenburg: The conversion to a cultural center can begin. In: Aachener Nachrichten . Edition of February 1, 2012 ( online ).
  3. ↑ Adam C. Oellers: Guide through the castle Frankenberg Aachen. 1985, p. 5.
  4. ↑ Ines Kubat: No longer just a backdrop for the vibrant district. In: Aachener Zeitung . Edition of September 1, 2014 ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ Martina Stöhr: The castle now finally belongs to the citizens. In: Aachener Nachrichten. Edition of September 1, 2014, p. 23 ( digitized version ).

Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 4 ″  N , 6 ° 6 ′ 14 ″  E