Gödersheim Castle

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Gödersheim Castle, aerial photo (2015)

The castle Gödersheim is the ruins of a late Gothic Wasserburg few kilometers from Wollersheim removed a district of Nideggen in North Rhine-Westphalia Düren . It is located in the valley of Neffelbaches and is since October 22, 1993 under monument protection . The Rhineland Regional Council was the owner of the castle ruins and the surrounding area . In 2016, the direct neighbor, Helmut Waldmann, who owns the Gödersheimer Mühle , bought the ruin and the adjoining buildings. He wants to tear down the buildings and furnish apartments in the ruins and the gatehouse.

description

Floor plan of the castle

The two-part complex used to consist of a castle house and a three-winged outer bailey , the horseshoe shape of which was open to the castle house. Both parts of the castle were surrounded by moats . Only the remnants of the curtain wall and the heavily overmolded gate building are left of the outer castle . The gate building has a stepped gable and a round arched gate passage. The other farm buildings such as stables and barns have now been completely demolished.

The two-storey castle house with corner blocks was built from rubble stones and has a rectangular floor plan. It used to be closed by a half-hip roof, but today it is only preserved as a ruin. It was very similar to the Disternich Hallenburg, which was built around the same time . On the second floor, the beginnings of round watch towers can be seen at two corners of the building . The long sides are divided into four axes by transverse floor windows with sandstone frames . There are two window openings on each of the narrow gable ends. A small bay window with a three-part window and pent roof had partially collapsed at the beginning of the 20th century. Towards the outer bailey, the building was protected by a kennel with a low stone wall and some loopholes . Access to the Zwinger was granted by a gate from the Renaissance period , which showed the alliance coat of arms of the Merode and Holtrop families and the year 1708 in its arched gable. A narrow, brick arched bridge connected the outer bailey to the residential building and led to a drawbridge . Both the renaissance gate and the bridge are no longer preserved today.

In addition to the ruins of the manor house, there are modern buildings from the 1950s on the castle grounds, which served as a branch of the Rheinische Landeskrankenhaus from 1959 to the beginning of the 21st century .

history

The castle house around 1890

The Niederungsburg was first mentioned in 1343 and was owned by the von Gödersheim family at that time. In 1373 a Johann von Vlatten appeared as its owner. The castle came to the Lords of Lülsdorf through marriage in 1474. Members of this family built the moated castle, which is now in ruins, around 1500. In 1630, the von Rohe family, known as Obsinnich, acquired the complex from the Lülsdorfs, before they were married to Gotthard von Merode-Houffalize in 1642 at the latest. His son Johann Wilhelm and his wife Anna Maria von Holtorp had the Zwingertor redesigned, which their joint coat of arms and the year 1708 in the gable field of the gate testify until around the end of the 19th century.

When the family line expired in 1826 with the death of Regine Petronella von Merode, Gödersheim Castle - as well as Jüngersdorf Castle - came by inheritance to the family of the Düsseldorf rentmaster Graef, whose heirs sold the property in several parts. The castle was bought by the Meiss family from Wollersheim. Some of its members lived in the castle house until 1865, then the complex gradually fell into disrepair and became a ruin.

In June 2020 it was announced that the castle would be rebuilt.

literature

  • Jascha Philipp Braun: In the footsteps of the Middle Ages: Gödersheim Castle in the focus of building research, in: LVR Office for the Preservation of Monuments in the Rhineland (ed.): Yearbook of the Rheinische Denkmalpflege Volume 46, Petersberg 2018, pp. 215-227.
  • Paul Clemen (ed.): The art monuments of the district of Düren (= The art monuments of the Rhine province . Volume 9, abbot, 1). L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1910, pp. 355-358.
  • Ulrich Coenen: Architectural treasures in the Düren district . 2nd Edition. Mainz, Aachen 1989, ISBN 3-925714-27-8 , pp. 226-227.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. U. Coenen: Architectural Treasures in the Düren District , p. 227.
  2. ^ Monument description of the castle ruins , accessed on April 21, 2012.
  3. http://www.aachener-zeitung.de/lokales/dueren/burg-goedersheim-von-einer-ruine-zum-schmuckstueck-1.1527067
  4. wasserburgen.de , accessed on April 21, 2012.
  5. a b c P. Clemen: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Düren , p. 357.
  6. ^ U. Coenen: Architectural Treasures in the Düren District , p. 226.
  7. a b P. Clemen: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Düren , p. 356.
  8. https://www.aachener-zeitung.de/lokales/dueren/nideggen/burg-erwacht-aus-dem-dornroeschenschlaf_aid-51808859

Coordinates: 50 ° 40 ′ 28.9 ″  N , 6 ° 32 ′ 48.3 ″  E