Horkheim Castle

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Horkheim Castle
View from Schlossgasse into the inner courtyard

View from Schlossgasse into the inner courtyard

Creation time : mentioned in 1344, expanded in the 16th century
Castle type : Niederungsburg, moated castle
Conservation status: rebuilt many times, essential parts preserved
Place: Horkheim
Geographical location 49 ° 6 '56.9 "  N , 9 ° 9' 57.6"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 6 '56.9 "  N , 9 ° 9' 57.6"  E
Horkheim Castle (Baden-Württemberg)
Horkheim Castle

The castle Horkheim is an existing already in the 14th century moated castle in today's Heilbronn district Horkheim , in the 17th and 19th centuries the abode and synagogue of the Jews of the village lay.

history

Horkheim Castle was mentioned as early as 1344. The castle, which, like the neighboring Georgskirche, lies on the western edge of the village, was the property of Eberhards II of Württemberg and was divided as a fief between several nobility. In 1389 Eberhard sold the castle to the Heilbronn Commandery of the Teutonic Order , who in 1459 sold the castle to the Heilbronn patrician Lemlin family . The Lemlin put the castle under the lordship of the Electoral Palatinate in 1461 , while the village of Horkheim, however, came to Württemberg in 1504 . Volmar Lemlin and his wife Agnes vom Bach donated the benefice of the castle chapel on May 11, 1469 , whose chaplaincy remained occupied until around 1520.

The castle, which was expanded several times in the 16th century, included the surrounding vineyards and farm buildings in the castle garden, which stretched east in the area of ​​Schlossgasse to the wine press, but no other land, so that the supply had to be largely from outside.

In 1622 the castle came from the Lemlin to the Seybold family , then to other fiefs who, against the reluctance of Württemberg, took more Jews into the castle from the 17th century after individual Jews had lived in the village as early as 1595. The protective Jews of the castle rulership set up a synagogue in the residential tower of the castle, first mentioned in 1725, which was used until the 19th century. In 1749 the names of 17 Jewish families (around 90 people) living in the castle area are already recorded. Most of the Jews lived in the castle complex without protection payments because they had built new apartments there or renovated dilapidated castle buildings. The Horkheim Jews had their cemetery in Sontheim . The Schlossgasse is said to have been called Judengasse once.

Around 1778, eight mostly younger Jewish families moved from Horkheim to the upper castle in nearby Talheim and founded the Talheim Jewish community there , after decades of disputes with the tenant Johann Heinrich Buhl, who also had his residence in the castle, in Horkheim since 1748 . However, Buhl did not just quarrel with the protective Jews, there are also other known disputes with others. In 1761 there were problems between Buhl and the parish after Buhl closed the passage to the church with a fence. In 1784 Buhl had a tangible dispute with the foreman Rieger from Lauffen, whose timber he had illegally kept from Eisgang to Horkheim.

In 1834 the castle came into private ownership. The eastern area of ​​the moat was filled in, and the Schlossgasse was built with residential buildings. From 1811 the Horkheim Jews also settled in the village, in 1828 a total of 54 Jews are said to have lived in the castle and village of Horkheim, in 1858 there were 72 Jewish residents. In 1859 a synagogue was built at Schlossgasse 5. After 1860 most of the Jewish community moved to neighboring Heilbronn, and the synagogue in Schlossgasse was converted into a residential building.

investment

Historic moated castle, reconstruction according to the information board on site
Today's building stock

The castle is located west of the historic village center of Horkheim in a lowland at the northern end of an arch of the Neckar that extends westward between Talheim and Heilbronn . Since the castle is not on a hill, it is almost invisible from the place. However, from the Neckar and from the southwest, the 16-meter-high, four-storey residential tower ( stone house ) is one of the landmarks of the place.

The stone house in the southwest of the complex and the partially preserved surrounding walls with the remains of two corner towers are the oldest parts of the originally pentagonal complex, which was surrounded by a 10 meter wide moat . The moat, which was spanned by a drawbridge , is partially filled. The larger part of the trench that is still preserved has dried up and is used as a garden.

The original access to the stone house is on the second floor, the entrance on the ground floor was subsequently broken into. Gothic tendril paintings have been preserved on the first floor, and remains of painted coats of arms on the reveal of the window in the north wall. In the window niches on the east side 28 layers of whitewash were found. On the second floor, Hebrew characters and remains of ornamental Renaissance painting have been preserved on the west and east walls . The third floor was divided into an unplastered anteroom and a plastered hall with seating niches on the east and south windows. The windows are designed as single windows with a simple pass arch and as a double window with a simple three pass . Stylistically, the windows can be dated to the early 14th century and thus roughly to the time the castle was first mentioned.

  • Castle moat with corner tower

  • Access to the stone house

  • Relic of the synagogue within the castle

The two-storey residential building with ornamental frameworks on the upper floor, adjoining the stone house to the east, was built in 1550 by Volmar Lemlin. His coat of arms and that of his wife, a born von Rinderbach, can be found next to the year 1550 on a corner post of the building.

The residential buildings in the north-east of the complex were given their present-day appearance through construction work in the 19th century, but they also date back to the 16th century. The core of the farm buildings in the west date from the 18th century. The classicistic building at Schlossgasse 18 in the east of the complex, which forms the right side of the gate to the inner courtyard, was only built after the surrounding wall there was torn down and the moat was filled.

  • Residential building and stone house

  • Stone house seen from the Georgskirche

  • Stone house, view from the west

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.landesarchiv-bw.de/plink/?f=1-40958
  2. ↑ Bader 1994, p. 5.5.
  3. ↑ Bader 1994, p. 5.1.

literature

  • Kgl. statistical-topographisches Bureau (Hrsg.): Description of the Oberamt Heilbronn . Stuttgart 1865, pp. 304-310.
  • Eugen Knupfer (edit.): Document book of the city of Heilbronn . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1904 ( Württemberg historical sources . N. F. 5)
  • Wolfram Angerbauer , Hans Georg Frank: Jewish communities in the district and city of Heilbronn . District of Heilbronn, Heilbronn 1986 ( series of publications of the district of Heilbronn 1), pp. 110–115.
  • Hermann Bader: Horkheim Castle. Kulturherbst Horkheim 94 , Heilbronn 1994 (documentation accompanying the exhibition with building survey, found documentation and document viewing)
  • Julius Fekete : Art and cultural monuments in the city and district of Heilbronn . Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1662-2 , p. 65.
  • Julius Fekete, Simon Haag, Adelheid Hanke, Daniela Naumann: Monument Topography Baden-Württemberg Volume I.5 City District Heilbronn . Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-8062-1988-3 , pp. 202/203

Web links

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