Lichtenberg Castle (Alsace)
| Lichtenberg Castle | |
|---|---|
 Lichtenberg Castle, on the right a medieval keep, on the left the modern arsenal with exhibition rooms |
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| Alternative name (s): | Château de Lichtenberg |
| Creation time : | 1206 |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle |
| Conservation status: | ruin |
| Standing position : | Count |
| Place: | Lichtenberg |
| Geographical location | 48 ° 55 '16 " N , 7 ° 29' 14" E |
| Height: | 480 m |
The Lichtenberg Castle , double . Château de Lichtenberg , is a ruined castle in the municipality of Lichtenberg . The castle was the first center of the Lichtenberg rule and was used as a fortress until the Franco-German War .
location
The ruins of the former hilltop castle are located at 480 m above Lichtenberg in the North Vosges , between La Petite-Pierre (20 kilometers by road) and Niederbronn-les-Bains (18 kilometers by road), in the Lützelstein region ( Pays de La Petite Pierre ), near the German-French border. From the parking lot in the center of Lichtenberg, footpaths lead to the castle in about 10 minutes.
description
The castle is surrounded by a wide, deep moat, which can only be accessed from one point. Standing at the moat , the castle only shows high smooth walls without windows. Inside the castle complex there are terraces and meadows next to the buildings. Modern exhibition rooms are integrated in the former “western house” from the 15th and 16th centuries with its round windows, which are unusual for Alsace. The “arsenal” from the 16th century was converted into a large exhibition space and a cantilevered auditorium was built that protrudes from the old structure of the castle. The artillery terrace from 1840 offers a wide view all around. Parts of the castle complex and all exhibition rooms are barrier-free .
A late Gothic castle chapel is well preserved. It was dedicated to the Trinity . On the side facing the towers there was a painting of St. Christopher . The chapel also served Lichtenberg itself as a church, as it did not have its own.
history
middle Ages
The castle was built around 1230 by the Lords of Lichtenberg . It was a fiefdom from the Bishop of Strasbourg to the Lords of Lichtenberg.
Since the death of Ludwig I von Lichtenberg in 1252, the Lichtenberg house was split into two lines, which were followed in two steps around 1330 and in 1335 a real division of rule between the three lines of the house. Lichtenberg Castle remained joint property between the older and middle branches of the family. As a result, a separate agreement had to be made in 1342 about who had what rights and obligations here. Further divisions followed as more branches of the family emerged. This always led to structural changes in the castle, as the family branches did not always deal with each other without conflict: The areas of the individual family branches in the outer bailey were surrounded with walls and - if it was possible to get along - with doors.
It was divided again - after reunified rule - in 1440, when the dispute between the brothers Ludwig V von Lichtenberg (* 1417; † 1474) and Jakob von Lichtenberg did not seem to be settled in any other way: Lichtenberg Castle was supposed to form a condominium again.
After the Lichtenberger and Jakob died out in 1480, the castle again formed a condominium, this time between the heirs, the Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg and the Counts of Zweibrücken-Bitsch .
Military installation of modern times
In 1570 there was the next big inheritance: Count Jakob von Zweibrücken-Bitsch (* 1510; † 1570) and his brother Simon V. Wecker, who died in 1540, left only one daughter each. Count Jakob's daughter, Margarethe (* 1540; † 1569), was married to Philipp V von Hanau-Lichtenberg (* 1541; † 1599). The legacy resulting from this constellation also included the second half of the Lichtenberg rule, not already ruled by Hanau-Lichtenberg, and thus also the Zweibrücken-Bitscher half at Lichtenberg Castle. In the same year, the heir, Philipp V, commissioned Daniel Specklin to modernize the weir system. However, the castle was conquered by the troops of Louis XIV in 1678 and came - like almost the entire left bank of the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg - under French sovereignty.
1736 died with Count Johann Reinhard III. the last male representative of the Hanau family. Due to the marriage of his only daughter, Charlotte (* 1700; † 1726), with the Hereditary Prince Ludwig (VIII.) (* 1691; † 1768) of Hesse-Darmstadt , the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg - and with it Lichtenberg Castle - followed suit there. In the course of the French Revolution , the left bank of the Hanau-Lichtenberg county - and with it the castle - fell to France. It was still used militarily. During the Franco-Prussian War , the castle, which had been converted into a fortress, was destroyed by the Württemberg military in 1870 .
Cultural monument
The German administration placed the castle under monumental protection in 1878 , which was confirmed by the French authorities in 1930 after the First World War and the return of Alsace to French sovereignty. In 1957 the castle was handed over to the water and forest administration by the Ministry of Defense and in 1970 it became the property of the municipality of Lichtenberg.
In 1993 an extensive restoration project planned by the architects Andrea Bruno (Italy) and Jean-Pierre Laubal (Paris) began, which has not yet been completed. In addition to repair and preservation measures on the historical building stock, modern architectural elements were integrated into the existing structure, which is not without controversy. This created rooms for a permanent exhibition with video presentations, a room for changing art exhibitions, a museum for fossils from the region and an auditorium for lectures, presentations and film screenings.
Burgmannen
Burgmannen for Lichtenberg Castle provided the following families of the lower nobility :
- Baltram from Buchsweiler
- from Hochfelden
- Cold ash
- from Mittelhausen
- from Strasbourg
See also
literature
- Henri Helmut Aemig: Lichtenberg - the castle and the county. Chronological overview, information on things to know and see. Strasbourg 1993, ISBN 2-903850-08-9 .
- Thomas Biller: Two drawings by Daniel Specklin for the Lichtenberg Fortress in Lower Alsace. In: Castles and Palaces . Vol. 19, 1978, H. 2, pp. 96-102.
- Fritz Eyer: Lichtenberg in legend and history. Strasbourg 1938 (fifth edition, SIVOM de la Haute-Moder, Wissembourg 1987).
- Fritz Eyer: The territory of the Lords of Lichtenberg 1202-1480. Investigations into the property, the rule and the politics of domestic power of a noble family from the Upper Rhine . In: Writings of the Erwin von Steinbach Foundation . 2nd edition, unchanged in the text, by an introduction extended reprint of the Strasbourg edition, Rhenus-Verlag, 1938. Volume 10 . Pfaehler, Bad Neustadt an der Saale 1985, ISBN 3-922923-31-3 (268 pages).
- Nicolas Mengus, Jean-Michel Rudrauf: Châteaux forts et fortifications médiévales d'Alsace. Dictionnaire d'histoire et d'architecture . La Nuée Bleue, Strasbourg 2013, ISBN 978-2-7165-0828-5 , pp. 197-199.
- Jean-Michel Rudrauf, Jacky Koch: Lichtenberg. Du château fort des sires de Lichtenberg à la forteresse royale: sept siècles d'architecture militaire (= Châteaux forts d'Alsace . Vol. 2). Société d'Histoire et d'Archéologie de Saverne et Environs, Saverne 1997.
Web links
- Castle website (French)
- Illustration by Daniel Meisner from 1626: Lichtenberg. Natura mutari nescia ( digitized version )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eyer: Territorium , p. 142.
- ↑ Eyer: Territorium , pp. 20, 141.
- ↑ Eyer: Territorium , p. 47.
- ^ Frank Baron Freytag von Loringhoven: European family tables III. Marburg 1976, plate 90.
- ↑ Eyer, p. 78ff.
- ↑ Eyer, p. 78f.
- ↑ Eyer, p. 84.
- ↑ Eyer, p. 142.
- ↑ Eyer: Territorium , p. 99.
- ↑ Eyer: Territorium , p. 181.
- ↑ Eyer: Territorium , p. 194.
- ↑ Eyer: Territorium , p. 197.
- ↑ Eyer: Territorium , p. 203.
- ↑ Eyer: Territorium , p. 213.