Hasegg Castle

Hasegg Castle
	Hasegg Castle with Mint Tower
Creation time :	first mentioned in 1306
Castle type :	Location
Conservation status:	Receive
Place:	Hall in Tirol
Geographical location	47 ° 16 '45.2 " N , 11 ° 30' 24.8" E Coordinates: 47 ° 16 '45.2 " N , 11 ° 30' 24.8" E

Mint tower

Coin gate

The Hasegg Castle is located in the town of Hall in Tirol in District Innsbruck-Land of Tyrol (Burg Hasegg 1-6).

History of the castle

Originally the castle was a protruding corner structure of the town fortifications of Hall. At that time, the brine obtained in the Hall valley was processed into salt in four brewing pans in the Saline of Hall . To do this, huge amounts of wood had to be burned. The danger of a fire breaking out was correspondingly great. In order to recognize such a danger at an early stage, a watchtower was built in the 13th century on the southwest corner of the salt works, which is mentioned in a document in 1296 as turris in salina (in German, tower by the salt works ). The name of Hasegg Castle ( house on the corner ) is derived from this Pfannhaus corner . The castle itself was first mentioned in 1306. The purpose of the castle was to protect the brewing system, shipping traffic, the river crossing over the Inn and the surveillance of the old Roman road.

The sovereign Friedrich with the empty pocket had given his city residence, the so-called royal house , to the city as a town hall in 1406 ; therefore the Tyrolean Habsburgs no longer had adequate quarters in Hall. So his successor, Archduke Sigismund der Münzreichen began in 1446 and then in 1480 with the expansion of the southern part of the saltworks into a princely seat. 1480 which were Münzertor and the mighty Mint Tower , which replaced the old, lower watchtower built. In 1490 the Hasegger Tor was reinforced by a bastion. Archduke Sigismund's coat of arms reminds of this. In 1477 Sigismund moved the sovereign mint from Merano to Hall in the Sparberegg residence . In 1486 the first silver coin, the first thaler (whose name still lives on in the word dollar ), was minted here . In 1567 Archduke Ferdinand II had the mint moved to Hasegg Castle. In addition, for the first time, machine coinage was carried out using roller embossing. The respective mint master was also the keeper of Hasegg.

It is said that Archduke Sigismund's successor, the Roman-German King Maximilian I , celebrated his second marriage to Bianca Maria Sforza in 1494 (presumably the wedding was celebrated in Innsbruck, or at least the supplement took place in Hasegg) . Maximilian also continued building work in 1515; under him the wooden east wing was built as a stone structure and a chapel was set up in honor of St. George . The master builder was the stonemason Niklas Thüring the Elder , the builder of the Golden Roof in Innsbruck, and his son Gregor. After Maximilian's death, the large halls were temporarily used as grain silos. Wooden intermediate floors to increase the storage capacity were built in. Under Archduke Ferdinand II , the workshops of the mint were built in 1567 in the west of the Zwingermauer; this had to move out of the Sparberegg residence because of the establishment of the royal women's monastery . Hasegg Castle was then partially used as an apartment for mint officials and a mint office was built in the courtyard. The existing prince's rooms were used again and again for visits by the sovereign and other guests. The earthquake of 1670 meant that the smaller tower to the north of the Mint Tower had to be removed to its present height. In 1809 the mint was closed by the Bavarians during the Tyrolean struggle for freedom . The former workshops then served as storage rooms and the castle premises were converted into apartments for saline workers.

George's Chapel

This chapel was commissioned by Emperor Maximilian I from 1515 to 1617 as part of the renovation. It has a unique spatial concept: the actual chapel, which was intended to offer the emperor and his closest entourage an intimate setting, was placed in a much larger hall. At the same time, the side walls were broken through so that a larger entourage outside the actual chapel room could attend Holy Mass . There is an opening in the ceiling that still exists today, which enabled the emperor to watch mass from his private rooms above the chapel. The apse juts out into Münzergasse as a graceful bay window. This fulfilled the requirement that no one should dwell above the sacrament of the altar.

The chapel has a ribbed vault supported by seven angel busts holding coats of arms; depicted are the coats of arms of Tyrol, Carinthia, Burgundy, the Holy Roman Empire , the coats of arms of Austria, Styria and Carniola. Next to the altar is the sacristy niche for the measuring instruments. The door is made of iron plates and is painted with the symbols of the Order of the Golden Fleece , namely the fire irons, the St. Andrew's cross and the imperial eagle. The Gothic entrance portal of red marble was around 1740 door and a Rococo - Lünettengitter with the imperial eagle. The chapel is decorated with rich tendril painting and pointed-arched tracery windows. The rococo altar with the statue of St. George in the middle and St. Sebastian and St. Florian on the sides did not come into the chapel until the 19th century.

From 1567 until it was profaned under Emperor Josef II in 1787, the mint officials held their annual anniversaries here. Since 1975 trade fairs have been read here again. The chapel is also available for weddings.

Mint tower

Austrian ten schilling note with the mint tower

The Mint Tower was built under Archduke Sigmund; a capsule, which was deposited in the tower knob on the occasion of the completion, bears the year 1490. Around 1500 the mint tower was raised above the corbels , so that today's characteristic appearance was created.

The tower is 45 m high, 204 steps lead to the top of the tower. The shape of the tower is unusual: It has a round, five-story substructure made of quarry stone masonry with a diameter of approx. 10 meters. A three-storey dodecagon rests on it , which is crowned by a dodecagonal lantern. The five floors of the round substructure are accessed by a spiral staircase. The tower served primarily as a watchtower for the salt works. Three to four tower guards were constantly on duty here. Two baroque sundials discovered on the outer facade as well as a mechanical clock indicate its function as a clock tower, especially for the saltworkers. The tallest silver coin in the world, minted for the 2008 European Football Championship, is located in the tower. This so-called Europataler has a diameter of 36 cm and a weight of over 20 kg. The mint tower is depicted on an Austrian ten schilling note from 1946. The Mint Tower was restored in 2005 and is now Hall's landmark.

Hasegg Castle today

patio

When one of the apartments housed in the castle was rebuilt in 1974, the prince's room with a mighty Gothic beamed ceiling was rediscovered, which prompted the general renovation of the castle. On the east wall of the prince's room there is a toilet facility from the 15th century, originally separated from the room by a door.

The town museum of Hall and the Museum of Mint Technology (in the rooms of the historic mint) are housed in the castle. In 1975 the Hall Mint was reopened as the “Alte Münze” museum and produced a 100 Schilling commemorative coin for the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. After the renovation in 2003, the existing museum was renamed "Münze Hall", here, among other things, show mints, but also special and commissioned mints for companies are offered. The museum also houses a replica of the first coin-minting machine, which was considered a technical sensation in the Middle Ages and with which around 4,000 coins could be minted daily.

A gallery was set up in the vaults of the former armory of the salt works. This is housed in the cellar vaults equipped with a Gothic mesh vault. Originally these served as the armory of the salt works. The weapons used to defend the saltworks were kept here (from halberds to smaller guns). There are still large iron hooks on the vaulted ceiling from which leather sacks were hung. Gunpowder and other utensils that had to be protected from moisture and access by mice and rats were kept in these. The cellar vaults were later used as storage rooms for the mint and, after its closure in 1809, for residential parties.

There is also a restaurant and other event rooms in the castle.

The castle buildings are owned by Österreichische Salinen AG . But they were leased to the municipality of Hall for 99 years. The salt works, which had existed since the Middle Ages, were discontinued by the general management of the Austrian salt works on August 5th, 1967.

Artefacts were discovered during archaeological excavations after a water pipe burst in the castle, which could be the remains of the drive system of a roller embossing machine from the 16th century.