Kempen Castle

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South view of Kempen Castle
East wing of the castle

The castle Kempen is a former country castle of the archbishops of Cologne , the protection of the Electoral Cologne served territory to the north-western border. It is located in the northeastern city center of the Lower Rhine city ​​of Kempen in the Viersen district . Comprehensively changed in the 19th century in the neo-Gothic style, it goes back to a medieval foundation and, along with Zülpich Castle, is considered to be the "best preserved castle in Cologne from the 14th century" because no other complex in Cologne can boast so much of the original structure from its early days . Until the French invaded in 1794, it was the residence of the mayor for the city and office of Kempen, who was also the elector's waiter . The castle was even the seat of the high court for a while , and its towers served as a prison and dungeon .

In the 17th century, Ferdinand von Bayern had the complex converted into a representative residence in the late Renaissance style, but a fire in the middle of the 19th century destroyed large parts of it. The subsequent reconstruction in the historicist style took away the castle-like character of the building , so that today we speak of a castle again.

The building, which has been a listed building since September 26, 1983, is currently used by the Kempen city archive and the Viersen district archive as well as the district adult education center. Since June 2010, the branch of the Niederrhein cultural area has also been the tenant of some office space. Kempen Castle can only be viewed inside by prior arrangement, but its outdoor facilities are open to the public at any time.

description

Situation plan; black: preserved buildings, gray: buildings that have disappeared
North elevation
West wing

Kempen Castle is a two-wing brick building with an almost triangular floor plan, the corners of which are occupied by round towers with battlements . The two two-storey wings of the complex rise above a basement with a barrel vault . They bump into each other at a right angle and have a peripheral pointed arch frieze on cordon is under the roof. The building used to be surrounded by a double, water-filled moat ring with walled-up side walls, of which only the southern part of the inner moat is preserved today. The wall thickness is 1.25 meters in the southwest and southeast, while it is two meters on the other sides. About the now dry moat performs vierbogige stone bridge to 20 meters high ogival portal tower , of about 1.5 meters risalitartig emerges from the western facade. Its previous pyramid roof has now been replaced by a gable roof with a stepped gable . The portal is surrounded by a house border in which the chain holes of the former drawbridge can still be seen. The gate passage behind it is covered by a cross vault, the ribs of which rest on consoles . Above the entrance there is a double coat of arms carved in tuff , which is surrounded by Gothic tracery in a four-pass shape. The coat of arms with its symbols shows Friedrich von Saar Werden as the owner of the complex: It shows a cross as a symbol for the Cologne Archbishopric and a double-headed eagle for the county of Saar Werden. Further up there is the statue of Thomas von Kempens in a niche and reminds us that the castle housed the Thomaeum grammar school for a long time .

The west wing of the castle is the longer of the two wings. It is about 46.5 meters wide and 12 meters deep. Its height - measured from the base of the moat - to the pointed arch frieze is around 15 meters. On the first upper and ground floor, it has transverse and cross- frame windows , the former gray-wacke frames no longer exist today. Before the wing was heavily modified in the 19th century, its outer wall was 2.70 meters thick, but this was reduced to a maximum of 0.95 cm in the course of the renovation work. There used to be a chapel on the first floor , the only window of which faces the castle courtyard. It is a narrow pointed arched window with quatrefoil and pillars made of stone. The apse of the chapel was set into the depth of the wall. The eastern wing of the castle is around 34 meters long and has a square tower protruding in the center on its outer facade, which is reminiscent of a pillar due to its slimness . At the height of the top floor it is converted into an octagonal shape by pendentives . There used to be a spiral staircase inside .

The three round towers at the corners of the complex, between 22.5 and 28.5 meters high , differ both in their diameter and the thickness of their walls. The west tower has a diameter of 8.5 meters and a wall 2.4 meters thick on the ground floor, which tapers up to 2.25 meters. The thinner south tower has only a 1.4 meter thick wall on its upper floors and differs from the other two corner towers in that it had machicolations . The eastern tower has a wall thickness of 2.15 meters at the bottom and two meters on the top floor. Inside, it has a domed tower room on each of the two upper floors. In addition to all these differences, the towers of the Kempen Castle also have something in common. Thus, all their windows and loopholes of Blaustein Framed facing. In addition, they all have a cornice with pointed arches and narrow, steep spiral stairs in the wall thickness. The clear width of the stairs in the east tower is only 0.65 meters.

history

Beginnings

After the lost battle of Worringen in 1288, Kempen was very important for Kurköln as a bulwark against Jülich and Brabant . Siegfried von Westerburg therefore granted the settlement town rights on November 3, 1294 and had it fortified . At that time there was already a fortified courtyard in Kempen, which was later expanded into a castle. In 1314 Archbishop Heinrich von Virneburg pledged the oppidum and Land Kempen to Dietrich Luf III. von Kleve , who had previously sold him the county of Hülchrath for 30,000  marks . Dietrich Luf remained in possession of the castle until the full purchase price for the county was paid in 1230. There is no document that has been handed down to us that says that the castle was founded in Kempen. For a long time the year of construction was 1316, but this date, which has been handed down since the 17th century, resulted from the wrong reading of a bronze plaque that was previously walled in in the inner courtyard of Kempen Castle and is now in the city's Kramer Museum . Their inscription reads:

M SEMEL ET TER C NONIS XV SEMEL IQUE
PRINCIPIO MAJI IUBET HOC CASTRUM FABRICARI
PRESUL MAGNIFICUS AGRIPPINE FREDERICUS
DE SAWARD NATUS VALEAT SINE FINE BEATUS
QUATUOR HOC ANNIS OPUS EXPLET CURA JOHANNIS
HUNT ICTI. CHRISTE DA SIT FELIX LOUCS ISTE.

It does not herald the founding of the complex, but rather a renovation in the years 1396 to 1400. However, the castle is mentioned in a document as early as 1347, when the knight Reinhard von Schönau was transferred to the castle, town and country of Kempen. In 1364, under Archbishop Engelbert III. a pledge to his nephew Adolf III. from the mark .

Extensions and conversions

At the end of the 14th century, Friedrich von Saar Werden commissioned the sexton of the Kempen parish church and later mayor and waiter, Johann (es) Hundt, as a master builder to convert and expand Kempen Castle based on the models in Lechenich and Zülpich . Richard Klapheck suspects that the similarities between the three systems could result from Hundt's previous work as a builder in Lechenich and Zülpich. His symbol, a dog, was seen five times on the Kempen castle. After the work was finished, it was a rather unadorned two-wing complex, the courtyard of which was bordered in the north by a strong circular wall . Later, further buildings were built on this defensive wall , which formed a third wing. In 1569, Salentin von Isenburg carried out expansions and repairs , during which, among other things, the dilapidated gate tower of the outer bailey south of the main castle was renewed. The tower had two floors, which were covered by a pyramid roof. On the top floor, four round watch towers with high conical roofs protruded from the corners . Elongated farm buildings were attached to the tower, including tithe barn , coach houses and stables. They delimited the outer bailey on its west and south-east side. At the north-west corner stood a round tower, the remains of which are still preserved today. The courtyard of the bailey was used in the 16th and 17th centuries as a meeting place where the bailiff Vogtgeding held.

Reconstructed floor plan of the castle after it was redesigned in the Renaissance style

In the middle of the Thirty Years' War , Ferdinand von Bayern commissioned his bailiff Konstantin von Nievenheim in 1634 to redesign the fortified castle in the style of the late Renaissance. The system was changed significantly both inside and outside. In addition to the defensive elements, this redesign mainly affected the main western facade. Their previous narrow hatches and notches have been replaced by large cross-frame windows with house edging. This took away the fortification character of the core castle and transformed the building into an electoral palace with a Renaissance roof, a knight's hall , a palace chapel and state rooms for the sovereign . But although the main focus was on the comfort of the renovations, additional fortification elements were added to the complex at the same time. The last part of the fixed bridge was replaced by a drawbridge, the outer curtain wall was reinforced and a barbican northeast of the castle was converted into a bastion . However, these measures could not prevent that on February 7, 1642, after ten days of heavy bombardment of the city, French, Hessian and Weimar troops united under the French Marshal Guébriant and the Hessian Lieutenant General Kaspar Graf von Eberstein after their victory in the battle of the Kempener Heide marched into the city and took the castle. They kept it occupied until the end of the war.

Partial demolition and rededication

Drawing of the castle ruins in 1858 by Heinrich Wiethase

In 1794 French revolutionary troops marched into Kempen and occupied it. The castle served as a warehouse and hospital before it was secularized in 1802 and declared a French national property. The last electoral official, Franziskus Ermans, acquired the facility from the French domain administration for around 4,000  Reichstaler . From him it came to the Krefeld silk scarf dealer Peter von Loewenich (also written as Löwenich, Lövenich and Loevenich) in 1807 for 6000 Klevische Reichstaler , who had it softened. The entire north wing of the castle was demolished and the bastion razed . Later the building came to the Krefeld Peter Floh, from whom the city of Kempen bought it in 1857 for 8000  thalers . At that time the complex was only a ruin, because on July 20, 1851 a fire had completely destroyed the building except for the walls. From 1861 to 1863 the castle was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style under the direction of the Royal Government and Building Councilor Krüger from Düsseldorf, after the architect Heinrich Wiethase had previously made various reconstruction drawings for the complex. From then on, the castle was to serve as a school building for the Thomaeum grammar school. For this purpose, the main building was not only rebuilt, but far-reaching changes were also made to the existing structure. Its interior was largely gutted and its division was completely adapted to the new purpose, regardless of the room design that had existed until then. The 2.50 to 2.70 meter thick outer walls were peeled off to a thickness of 0.7 to 0.95 meters in order to get more space. In addition, the exterior of the courtyard-facing facade of the west wing was standardized, the battlements of the towers restored and all windows renewed. In order to make room for a schoolyard, the two-story gate tower of the outer bailey was demolished in 1868, after the adjacent wing structures had already been laid down in 1867.

The castle served as a school building until 1925. After a few years of vacancy, the then district of Kempen-Krefeld rented the building in 1929 to use it as the seat of the district administration. The interior conversion into smaller office units and the expansion of the attic into a slightly cantilevered attic, which was carried out in 1934, could not, however, counteract the onward decay of the building in the long term. In 1939 the complex changed from municipal ownership to that of the district. Badly damaged by bombs and fire in World War II , it was repaired until 1951 and repaired again in 1976. After the district administration was relocated to Viersen in 1984 , Kempen Castle has served as the district and city archive and is also the seat of the district adult education center.

literature

  • Franz Bock : The restoration of the former electoral palace at Kempen on the Lower Rhine . In: Friedrich Baudri (ed.): Organ for Christian art . Vol. 8, No. 3, February 1, 1858, pp. 34-35 ( online ).
  • Franz Bock: The ruins of the former electoral palace in Kempen . In: Friedrich Baudri (ed.): Organ for Christian art . Vol. 10, No. 9, May 1, 1860, pp. 97-100 ( online ).
  • Paul Clemen (ed.): The art monuments of the district of Kempen . L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1892 ( The Art Monuments of the Rhine Province . Volume 1, Section 1), pp. 89–96 ( online )
  • Ludger Fischer : The most beautiful palaces and castles on the Lower Rhine . Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2004, ISBN 3-8313-1326-1 , pp. 46-47.
  • Hanns Ott: Rhenish water castles. History - forms - functions . Weidlich, Würzburg 1984, ISBN 3-8035-1239-5 , pp. 156-157.
  • A. Rein: The bronze memorial plaque of the Kempen castle . In: Yearbooks of the Association of Friends of Antiquity in the Rhineland (Bonner Jahrbücher). Volume 46. Association of antiquity friends in the Rhineland, Bonn 1869, pp. 119-134 ( online ).
  • Gregor Spohr: How nice to dream away here. Castles on the Lower Rhine . Pomp, Bottrop / Essen 2001, ISBN 3-89355-228-6 , pp. 162-163.
  • Jens Wroblewski, André Wemmers: Theiss-Burgenführer Niederrhein . Konrad Theiss , Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8062-1612-6 , pp. 88-89 .

Web links

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

References and comments

  1. ↑ Bodo Ebhardt : The defense construction of Europe in the Middle Ages . Volume 1, reprint of the 1939 edition. Flechsig, Würzburg 1998, ISBN 3-88189-243-5 , p. 127.
  2. ↑ a b c F. JJ Bock: The ruins of the former electoral palace at Kempen , p. 99.
  3. ↑ Monuments in the city of Kempen, serial no. 2 , accessed on July 26, 2011.
  4. ↑ Tobias Klingen: Kempen: New tenant in the castle . In: Westdeutsche Zeitung . Online edition from April 19, 2010.
  5. ^ A b Friedrich-Wilhelm Krahe: Castles of the German Middle Ages. Floor plan dictionary . Flechsig, Würzburg 2000, ISBN 3-88189-360-1 , p. 323.
  6. ↑ Converted dimensions according to FJJ Bock, The ruins of the former electoral palace at Kempen , in which the dimensions are given in Rhine feet. The height of the stepped gable is not yet taken into account.
  7. ↑ a b c d e Converted dimensions according to FJJ Bock, The ruins of the former electoral palace at Kempen , in which the dimensions are given in Rhine feet.
  8. ^ A b Paul Clemen : Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Kempen , p. 95.
  9. ↑ a b H. Ott: Rheinische Wasserburgen , p. 156.
  10. ↑ a b c d e P. Clemen: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Kempen , p. 96.
  11. ^ A b Otto von Mülmann : Statistics of the government district of Düsseldorf . Volume 1, part 3. Baedeker, Iserlohn 1864, p. 431 ( online ).
  12. ↑ a b A. Wemmers, J. Wroblewski: Theiss-Burgenführer Niederrhein , p. 88.
  13. ^ Paul Clemen: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Kempen , p. 91.
  14. ↑ H. Ott: Rheinische Wasserburgen , p. 137.
  15. ^ Richard Klapheck : The architecture on the Lower Rhine . Volume 1. Düsseldorf 1915/1916, p. 60 ( online ).
  16. ^ A b Paul Clemen: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Kempen , p. 92.
  17. ^ Otto von Mülmann: Statistics of the government district of Düsseldorf . Volume 1, part 3. Baedeker, Iserlohn 1864, pp. 431-432 ( online ).
  18. ↑ a b Walter Damm: 350 years of the Thomaeum grammar school . In: Fest- und Jahresschrift 2009 “350 Years Thomaeum” . Kempen 2009, p. 27, footnote 1 ( PDF ; 335 kB).
  19. ↑ Walter Damm: 350 years of the Thomaeum high school . In: Fest- und Jahresschrift 2009 “350 Years Thomaeum” . Kempen 2009, p. 27 ( PDF ; 335 kB).
  20. ↑ P. Clemen: Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kreis Kempen , p. 93.
  21. ↑ The German castles and palaces in color . Krüger, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-8105-0228-6 , p. 679.
  22. ↑ H. Ott: Rheinische Wasserburgen , p. 157.

Coordinates: 51 ° 22 ′ 0.4 "  N , 6 ° 25 ′ 17.1"  E