High Councilors

High Councilors
	High Councilors
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Place:	Sils in Domleschg
Geographical location	46 ° 41 ′ 31 " N , 9 ° 26 ′ 41" E Coordinates: 46 ° 41 ′ 31 " N , 9 ° 26 ′ 41" E ; CH1903: 753435 / 173153
Height:	946 m above sea level M.

Hohen Rätien is the largest castle complex in the area of the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland . It is 946 m above sea level. M. in the municipality of Sils im Domleschg in the Hinterrhein district . It belongs to the Jecklin Family Foundation and is protected by the Swiss Confederation and the Canton of Graubünden.

location

The extensive hilltop castle complex is located on the mighty rock head of the Crap Son Gion ( Eng. "Johannisstein") on the right hand side 250 meters above the north entrance to the Viamala Gorge and dominates the area at the confluence of the Hinterrhein and Albula rivers . The castle plateau is protected on three sides by vertically sloping rock walls; access to the facility is only possible on the likewise very steep south side via a saddle 40 meters below. Hohen Rätien was located directly on the Viamala route, one of the most important north-south connections in the central Alps, which has been widely used from prehistoric times until the early modern period .

history

Historically, historically and in terms of castle history, Hohen Rätien is in some respects a puzzling unique specimen. The striking plateau, which is ideally suited for settlement purposes, shows traces from all epochs back to the Bronze Age . Remains of Roman buildings are archaeologically verifiable in several places in the area: evidence of the use of the strategically important place by the Romans. Its strategic location on the important transit route is comparable to Säben near Klausen in South Tyrol .

During the High Middle Ages, the High Rhaetians united regional ecclesiastical and secular power. This could have led to the founding of a town or at least to an administrative focus for the valley. The destruction caused by the violent earthquake of 1295 may have prevented this development in favor of further development down in the valley. There in Fürstenau was then the episcopal administration. Accordingly, Fürstenau received city rights in 1354.

Building stock

The complex is divided into an outer (fortified church ) and a more densely built-up inner area (administration). The only partially visible enclosure wall (Bering) encloses an area of about one hectare and probably dates from the early Middle Ages . In the interior of the Bering there are three towers and other remains of buildings, scattered and without any recognizable relationship to one another. Two of the towers were inhabited earlier, the third used as a watchtower.

High Rialt

At the highest point is the three-storey residential and administrative tower Hoch Rialt (12th / 13th century, possibly older foundation walls). An originally two-story stone house was raised to form a castle tower around 1250 as a living and working space for the episcopal administration ( church bailiff ). Presumably the tower was already badly damaged in the violent earthquake of 1295, after which the episcopal administration was relocated to the nearby episcopal castle of Fürstenau GR .

The Hoch Rialt was abandoned and was described as disintegrating in the episcopal annals (registers) as early as 1410.

After almost 600 years of decay, the tower received a retracted roof, invisible from the outside, with impluvium and inserted glass pyramid, as well as a support structure inside, which saved the building from collapsing during safety and restoration work in 1990/1991 .

St. Johann Church

The church of St. Johann Baptista , which is now roofed over, stands on the eastern edge of the walled complex . It has an elongated nave to which a rectangular choir attaches to the east, slightly angled. The originally stand-alone campanile (bell tower) is now integrated into the north wall of the ship. The church of St. Johann was only built in the 15th century as the last extension in a whole series of sacred buildings, the origins of which go back to the late Roman period. At the beginning of the 16th century the old church and baptismal tradition was given up, the last pastor left his stormy benefice and the church gradually fell into disrepair. It survived the centuries as a ruin until it was considered again in 1980 as part of the restoration work. Since then it has been used again for cultural and church events.

Pfaff tower

In the north-west of the church there is the square, three-storey so-called Pfaff tower , which was probably inhabited by the pastors on High Raetia. Five renovation phases can be seen inside. In 1975 he was covered again. Today the tower serves as accommodation for the members of the family foundation and the friends' association.

Defense tower

The so-called defense tower in the southeast of the complex overlooks the entire access area of the castle hill and is likely to have been the only building that served primarily defensive purposes. Its creation is dendrochronologically dated to the year 1209.

Baptistery

In the very north-east of the castle complex, excavations carried out by the cantonal archaeological service between 1999 and 2005 uncovered an entire complex of sacred buildings . The excavation results suggest that, after the Romans left , the complex was used primarily for sacred purposes in the early Christian period (valley and baptismal church St. Johann).

The uncovering of a large stone baptismal font in a baptistery extension, which typologically is dated to the year 500, caused a scientific sensation . Its central function is evident from the fact that the new church buildings and extensions that have emerged over the centuries always referred to the baptismal font and a connecting staircase, which was built around 1250, maintained access to the old baptistery. The oldest remains of the wall in this complex of church buildings come from a late antique building that was built around the year 350 and already served sacred purposes.

Early Christian baptismal font
St. Johann Church

Ownership

March halt of an ammunition column column in the 1st World War

In 1359 the Church of St. Johann was ceded to the Cazis Monastery by the Bishop of Chur in exchange for properties in the Lower Engadine . Around 1480 the entire castle complex , which had been episcopal until then, went to the von Jecklin family from Rodels , who received the title of nobility from Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg and called themselves "von Jecklin von und zu Hohen Rätien".

As Fideikommiss , Hohen Rätien has remained in the family foundation's possession to this day.

restoration

The family foundation has been active since 1972, with the support of volunteers from the Hohen Rätien Castle Association (formerly the Hohen Rätien Working Group), in order to gradually secure and maintain the building fabric from almost 2000 years of history.

photos

Defense tower
Pfaff tower
Illustration by William Turner , 1843

literature

Heinrich Boxler: Burgenland Switzerland. Aare Verlag, 1990
Erwin Poeschel: The Castle Book of Graubünden . Zurich 1929
OP Clavadetscher, Werner Meyer : The castle book of Graubünden . Zurich 1984
Werner Meyer: Castles of Switzerland. Volume 3, Zurich 1983
Thomas Riedi: Viamala . Chur 1992
Stuart Morgan: Eglises romanes et châteaux forts . Lausanne 1977
YES by spokesman, Rudolf Jenny: Cultural history of the three leagues in the 18th century . Chur 1976

Other sources

Anton Moser: Burg Hoch-Rialt (Hohenrätien) , from No. 4 of the BMB, 1921
Hans Mohler: Thusner Wanderbuch , Thusis 1966
Nicolin Sererhard: Unfalte Delineation , Chur 1944
Anton von Castelmur: The castles and palaces of the Canton of Graubünden , 1940
Heinrich Kraneck: The old knight's castles and castle palaces , Chur, 1834
Heinrich Kraneck: The old knight castles in Hohen Rätien , Chur 1921
A. Rumpf: Thusis , Zurich, without date
Ernst Lechner: Thusis and the Hinterrheintäler , Chur, 1891
Emil Camenisch: Heinzenberger Church History , Thusis 1950
Bündner Post / Pöstli: Years 1889 to 1999
HL Lehmann: The Republic of Graubünden , Magdeburg 1797, p. 188 f
Annouk Python: Reconstruction d'un Château , Friborg 1980, ETHZ

Web links

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

Official website of the Hohen Rätien castle complex
Castle world: Hohenratsien Castle (Hochrialt)
Maria-Letizia Boscardin: High Council [Hochrialt]. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .