Hamm Castle

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Hamm Castle, view from the southwest

The Hamm Castle is a castle-like castle in the local community of Hamm in the Rhineland-Palatinate Eifel district of Bitburg-Prüm . It emerged from one of the largest medieval fortifications in the Eifel . As a conservation area the plant under the name stands Burg Hamm under monument protection .

The castle's roots go back to the 11th century. It was the ancestral seat of the Lords of Hamm and came through the von Milburg family in the late 16th century through marriage to Gerhard von der Horst , who had a new building built in the Renaissance style on the medieval foundations . After a tragic accident in 1835, the owners at the time abandoned the castle to decay, which was stopped in 1887 by Count Friedrich-Anton von Renesse- Breitbach and his wife Sidonie von Tornaco through extensive restoration and reconstruction work. A fire in March 1945 almost completely destroyed the Palas , so that today there is a new building from the 1960s behind its preserved facade.

history

A Becelinus von Hamm was first mentioned in a document in 1026, but a castle has not yet been explicitly mentioned. However, a mill near Ham near Wiersdorf is already mentioned in the Prümer Urbar , which is why research assumes that a predecessor of today's castle, the so-called old castle, already existed at the highest point of the rock and was owned by a noble one Family, the Count of Hamm, was inhabited. Assumptions even go so far that the beginnings of the castle at that time could go back to the Celtic times, because as early as around 800 a defense structure should have stood on the site . The Counts of Hamm are considered the ancestors of the Counts of Vianden . At times they were counts in the Bidgau and neighboring districts. From the 11th century they also acted as guardians of the Prüm Abbey . In 1083 Bertold von Hamm took this office. In 1220 the Counts of Vianden owned the Hammer castle complex, because in that year Heinrich I von Vianden gave this allodial property in Hamm to Cologne's Archbishop Engelbert I as a fief .

The Lords of Hamm were relatives and feudal men of the Counts of Vianden . Through Maria von Hamm, a daughter of Gerhard I von Hamm, who died in 1346, the property came to the family of her husband Friedrich I von Milburg (also written as Milberg and Mildberg) in 1371. Over several generations, the hammer ownership was then passed on in the male line until it was passed on to Friedrich III. came from Milburg. His daughter Irmgard married Heinrich von Malberg in 1509 . Their son Wilhelm († 1569) took control of Hamm Castle on April 30, 1557 while his parents were still alive . His daughter Anna Maria from his marriage with Gertrud von Bourscheid married Gerhard von der Horst zu Heimerzheim on March 26, 1583 and brought the castle with them into their marriage. The couple had the palace built in the Renaissance style around 1586 at the present location. A chronogram above the courtyard portal of a stair tower attests to this . After the death of Gerhard-Ernst von der Horst in 1697, his two children Karl-Lothar and Anna Apollonia took over the inheritance on March 17, 1698. Castle and rule Hamm came to Anna Apollonia's husband, Count Franz-Ferdinand von Lannoy, bailiff of Wittlich and Koblenz , governor of Ehrenbreitstein , Trier field marshal lieutenant and field marshal general emperor Charles V. He began with the new construction of the palace chapel and thus replaced until 1700 a previous building.

Hamm Castle in 1902

In the course of the French Revolution and the following period, the Lannoy family lost many of their feudal marriages in areas to the left of the Rhine, and with them a large part of their income. The Hammer Schlossgut was still managed by a courtier, but the remaining castle buildings gradually fell into disrepair due to lack of maintenance. In 1835, the knight's hall of the Palas with several rooms above collapsed as a result of overloading. Many people were killed in this accident. The Counts of Lannoy withdrew to their headquarters, the castle in Clervaux in Luxembourg , and from then on let the castle and estate in Hamm be administered only by bailiffs. As a result, the property deteriorated more and more. The last male member of the family, Adrien de Lannoy, was married to Marie Amélie de Tornaco. When he died, he bequeathed Hamm to his wife, who in turn bequeathed the property to her brother Victor de Tornaco in 1856 . His daughter Sidonie came from his marriage to Anne Marie Louise de Beghein. Through her marriage in 1883 to Count Friedrich-Anton von Renesse-Breitbach, who resided at Bürresheim Castle, Hamm Castle came to this family. As early as 1885, after a visit to the Bitburg area, Friedrich-Anton made the first plans to rebuild the run-down facility. In the spring of 1887 the family came to Hamm and moved into the only four rooms in the castle that were still habitable. As early as the summer of the year, the couple began rebuilding and restoring the building to save it from final ruin. The work included not only the restoration of the residential building, but also the renewal and extension of the two outer bailey wings . In 1890 the leaky roofing of all roofs was renewed, in 1893 the main gate was rebuilt and equipped with the coat of arms of the Renesse-Breitbach and von Tornaco families. In 1894 the couple had a terrace built at the point where the collapsed part of the hall had been . Overall, the work dragged on until 1902. In that year they could be finished with the completion of the castle chapel.

Sidonie's eldest daughter Elisabeth was the sole heir to the property in 1928 after all of the siblings had died. In 1909 she married Count Egon von und zu Westerholt and Gysenberg and bequeathed Hamm Castle to their son Otto. His son Ferdinand from his marriage to Gabriele Dubusc is still the castle owner today, who lives and manages the complex with his family. During the Second World War , a fire started by the SS in March 1945, two days before the American invasion, severely damaged the residential building. Above all, the eastern half and its historical furniture as well as the art collections there were completely destroyed. From 1958, under Otto Graf von und zu Westerholt and Gysenberg, the house was rebuilt according to plans by the Trier building councilor Heinrich Otto Vogel . With the exception of the courtyard front and the western outer wall, all parts of the building were laid down and a new building two storeys lower was erected in their place in 1960. Because Hamm Castle is privately inhabited, it is not open to the public. Exceptions are regular cultural events. The palace chapel and the so-called Gothic Hall can also be rented for weddings or celebrations.

description

Floor plan of the castle in 1920

Hamm Castle stands on an elongated mountain spur , which is limited on three sides by the Prüm and thus protected against attacks. In the early days there was a refuge there . Today's facility has an almost rectangular floor plan measuring around 40 × 80 meters and is separated from the rest of the site by wide trenches on the narrow sides in the north and south. North of the deep neck trench is the highest point of the mountain spur. The site of a Romanesque predecessor, the so-called Old Castle, is assumed there. Later there was a small baroque garden , the basic layout of which can still be seen today. The preserved boiler room in the garden shows that there used to be a greenhouse there.

Ring wall, courtyard, outer bailey

South side with south gate

The castle area is surrounded by a curtain wall, most of which dates back to the 14th century and encloses an inner courtyard of around 3000 m². It has loopholes and an open battlement with battlements from the end of the 19th century. The southwest corner is marked by a round tower , in the middle of the western long side there is another, semicircular tower. In the entire southern area, the outbuildings of the outer bailey lean against the surrounding wall on three sides. In the middle of the south side there is a gate with a long gate hall, which is flanked by two semicircular towers. While the western one dates back to the 14th century, its western counterpart was only added in the 19th century.

North gate, keep, main building

Keep and north gate

A second entrance to the palace area is on the northwest corner. The arched gate passage with a slip gate next to it is located in a rectangular, three-storey gate tower , which is closed off by a slate-covered hip roof. It was changed in the 16th century and increased at the end of the 19th century. From there the visitor arrives in a narrow kennel , which is protected together with the gate by the medieval keep with loopholes. With the exception of its open defense platform with a console-supported parapet on the top floor (19th century), its structure dates from the 14th century. The double-shell walls of the 20 meter high round tower are sufficiently thick to provide space for a staircase that is as thick as the wall.

Today's living rooms are located in a recent main building, which stands at a point where the main building used to be. After a fire in 1945, only the four-story, southern outer wall with two stair towers and a slightly protruding building with a monopitch roof on the eastern side are left. The south facade has high, coupled rectangular windows in the late Gothic style with profiled walls . On the ground floor of the eastern building is the Gothic Hall , a four-bay ballroom with a cross vault , the origins of which can be found in the 14th century. The belt and cross ribs of the 12.8 meter long hall rest on short round pillars . In the past, this room was used as a dining room by the castle owners. In the corner between the east building and the main building there is a stair tower 5.5 meters in diameter with a flat conical roof . The alliance coat of arms of the von der Horst and Malberg zu Ouren families as well as the year 1586, which document the year of construction and the builders of the tower, can be found above its Renaissance portal. Inside there is a spiral staircase made of sandstone . The younger and narrower stair tower on the east corner of the residential building has a self-supporting spiral staircase with a curved stone spindle. His wall painting shows fruit trees with coats of arms and probably dates from the 19th century.

Castle chapel

The two-storey castle chapel stands between the gate kennel and the main building and protrudes about eight meters from the south facade. Its baroque portal in the keystone shows the year of construction 1700. The nave has a low groin vault , while the semicircular choir is equipped with a stitch cap vault . Overall, the small church building has a clear length of eleven meters and a width of 4.90 meters. Its wall paneling dates from the middle of the 18th century. On the west wall is the 1.65 meter high sacrament niche with a triangular gable . A wooden gallery supported by stone consoles leads from the chapel to the battlement of the western courtyard wall. The simple altar made of dark wood dates back to 1682. Its antependium consists of an embossed leather wallpaper . The tabernacle is flanked by small, twisted wooden pillars. On it is a wooden cross, the crossbar of which bears the inscription AVE CRUX PIA, MUNDI SALUS 1682. On the sides of the altar are two figures made of light wood, which are more recent and show Saint Stephen and Saint Catherine.

In the chapel you can see three Renaissance tombs , originally from the Maria Laach Abbey . After the secularization of the monastery in 1819, they came to the art collection of the Counts of Renesse in Bürresheim Castle and from there to Hamm in 1929. They are the stone grave monuments of Georg von der Leyen († 1509) and his son Werner as well as the couple Georg von der Leyen († 1553) and Anna Beyrin von Boppard. The two individual monuments come from the workshop of the Abel brothers who work in Cologne .

literature

  • Bernd Altmann, Hans Caspary: Bitburg-Prüm district. City of Bitburg, Verbandsgemeinden Bitburg-Land and Irrel (=  cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany . Volume 9.2 ). Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1997, ISBN 3-88462-132-7 , p. 236-241 .
  • Michael Berens : The churches and chapels of the Bitburger Land. A guide to the sacred buildings of Bitburg city and country (= contributions to the history of Bitburg country . Volume 8/9). Historical Working Group Bitburger Land, Bitburg 1992, ISSN  0939-0189 .
  • Hermann Bonus: Hamm Castle in the heart of the Prüm Valley near Bitburg . In: The Eifel . No. 82, 1987, ISSN  0176-8255 , pp. 369-371.
  • Heinz Drossard (Red.): Hamm Castle in the Eifel (= contributions to the history of the Bitburger Land . Volume 46/47) Historical Working Group Bitburger Land, Bitburg 2002, ISSN  0939-0189 .
  • Bernhard Gondorf: The reconstruction of Hamm Castle in the Eifel at the end of the 19th century . In: Castles and Palaces . No. 1, 1982, ISSN  0007-6201 , pp. 41-44.
  • Matthias Kordel: The most beautiful palaces and fortresses in the Eifel . Wartberg, Gudensberg-Gleichen 1999, ISBN 3-86134-482-3 , pp. 28-29.
  • Theo Kyll: 900 years of Hamm Castle on the Prüm . In: Local calendar for the Bitburg district in 1952 . Paulinus, Trier 1952, pp. 122-132.
  • Ernst Wackenroder : The Art Monuments of the Bitburg District (= The Art Monuments of the Rhine Province . Volume 12, Section 1). L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1927, pp. 113-120.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Hamm  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ^ Hamm Castle on the website of the Route Gottfried von Bouillon , accessed on June 23, 2014.
  2. ^ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm. Mainz 2018, p. 48 (PDF; 4.4 MB).
  3. ↑ H. Drossard: Hamm Castle in the Eifel , 2002, p. 8.
  4. ↑ Information according to H. Drossard: Schloß Hamm in der Eifel , 2002, p. 8. However, it is unclear whether Ham actually meant today's Hamm, because today's place is not, as mentioned in the land register, on the Nirms, but at the Prüm.
  5. ↑ a b H. Drossard: Hamm Castle in the Eifel , 2002, p. 58.
  6. ↑ a b c d M. Kordel: The most beautiful palaces and castles in the Eifel , 1999, p. 28.
  7. ^ Franz-Josef Heyen: Hamm . In: Ludwig Petry (ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 5: Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 275). Kröner, Stuttgart 1959, DNB 456882898 , p. 113.
  8. ^ Theodor Joseph Lacomblet : Document book for the history of the Lower Rhine . Volume 2. Wolf'sche Buchdruckerei, Düsseldorf 1846, p. 49, no. 88 ( online ).
  9. ↑ H. Drossard: Hamm Castle in the Eifel , 2002, p. 11.
  10. ↑ H. Drossard: Hamm Castle in the Eifel , 2002, p. 6.
  11. ↑ H. Drossard: Hamm Castle in the Eifel , 2002, p. 36.
  12. ↑ H. Drossard: Hamm Castle in the Eifel , 2002, p. 27.
  13. ↑ H. Drossard: Hamm Castle in the Eifel , 2002, p. 41.
  14. ↑ H. Drossard: Hamm Castle in the Eifel , 2002, p. 52.
  15. ↑ a b B. Gondorf: The reconstruction of Hamm Castle in the Eifel at the end of the 19th century , 1982, p. 42.
  16. ^ B. Gondorf: The reconstruction of Hamm Castle in the Eifel at the end of the 19th century , 1982, p. 43.
  17. ↑ B. Gondorf: The reconstruction of Hamm Castle in the Eifel at the end of the 19th century , 1982, p. 44.
  18. ↑ H. Drossard: Hamm Castle in the Eifel , 2002, p. 46.
  19. ^ Hartwig Beseler, Niels Gutschow: War fates of German architecture: losses, damage, reconstruction. Documentation for the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany . Volume 2: South. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1988, ISBN 3-529-02685-9 , p. 924.
  20. ^ B. Altmann, H. Caspary: Kulturdenkmäler in Rheinland-Pfalz. Bitburg-Prüm district , 1997, p. 236.
  21. ^ A b c E. Wackenroder: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Bitburg , 1927, p. 116.
  22. ^ E. Wackenroder: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreises Bitburg , 1927, p. 115.
  23. ^ Website of the castle , accessed on June 23, 2014.
  24. ↑ a b E. Wackenroder: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreises Bitburg , 1927, p. 119.
  25. ↑ a b c d B. Altmann, H. Caspary: cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Bitburg-Prüm district , 1997, p. 240.
  26. ↑ a b c Entry on castle chapel (Hamm) in the database of cultural assets in the Trier region ; accessed on February 7, 2016.
  27. ↑ a b E. Wackenroder: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Bitburg , 1927, p. 120.

Coordinates: 50 ° 1 ′ 0.1 ″  N , 6 ° 25 ′ 9.9 ″  E