Neuhaus Castle (Wolfsburg)
| Neuhaus Castle | ||
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 Neuhaus Castle with castle pond |
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| Creation time : | 1371/1372 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | Received or received substantial parts | |
| Place: | Wolfsburg | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 24 '56.5 " N , 10 ° 51' 22.5" E | |
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Neuhaus Castle is a well-preserved, medieval moated castle in the Neuhaus district of Wolfsburg and, together with Fallersleben Castle and Wolfsburg Castle, is one of the most important historical buildings in the city. The castle, first mentioned in documents in 1371, was a knight seat of the Rothehofer line of the von Bartensleben family from 1423 . Until the middle of the 16th century she had a military function. It then served as the ducal office of Brunswick and became an agricultural domain . The castle has belonged to the city of Wolfsburg since April 1, 1981.
location
The castle was built on a rock massif made of Keupersandstone above the Allerniederung . It became a moated castle through the damming of the Hehlinger Bach, which surrounded it as a moat. Today only the castle pond remains.
The castle used to be in a favorable position to protect passing trade routes . These were the Lüneburg – Leipzig and Bremen – Magdeburg routes. The trade routes crossed the Aller-Urstromtal in a relatively dry place between the marshland of the Barnbruch in the west and the Drömling in the east.
construction
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Neuhaus Castle was completed as the New House in 1372 after only two years of construction . The builder was the Brunswick Duke Magnus the Younger with the help of the city of Brunswick . It should be a counter-castle to Wolfsburg and the (now defunct) fortification Altes Haus in Vorsfelde (see also: Burgwall Vorsfelde ), both of which were subordinate to the von Bartensleben family. The reason for the Duke's rearmament was a breach of loyalty to von Bartensleben. They had reneged on him, although they were bound by fiefdom , by entering into a feudal treaty with an eastern sovereign.
Neuhaus Castle is a closed complex with a protected inner courtyard. Characteristic of their military strength are the high walls and the approximately 20 meter high, defiant keep next to the gate entrance. It had a large knight's hall . The facility was only accessible via a drawbridge . Today the castle is one of the best-preserved medieval moated castles in northern Germany.
In the Merian description of 1654 it says about Neuhaus Castle:
- This is a prince. Braunschweigisch Ampthauß. This house is walled up high on a stone cliff and has sturdy towers on both corners.
history
During the War of the Lüneburg Succession (1370-1388), the Brunswick Duke Magnus the Younger declared war on those of Bartensleben and sent a strong garrison to Neuhaus Castle. On June 24, 1372 there was an open field battle near Heßlingen between troops of the Brunswick and units of the Wolfsburg (von Bartensleben), which ended in a draw. In 1374, a separate peace ended the armed conflict in the region. In 1464 there were renewed acts of war against the castle when Duke Otto von Lüneburg undertook a campaign of revenge against Duke Heinrich I of Brunswick, the peacemaker. Neuhaus Castle and Wolfsburg withstood the attacks; the Vorsfeld castle Altes Haus was completely destroyed.
From 1423 Neuhaus Castle was the seat of the Rothehofer line of the von Bartensleben family . They brought the name from Bartensleben to Newenhauß . According to tradition, Huner von Bartensleben was sitting at the castle in 1473 when his cousins Jakob and Busso applied to the sovereign for the castle if something should happen to their relative.
In 1552 units of Count Vollrad von Mansfeld from the Schmalkaldic League moved up in front of Neuhaus Castle. He had raided the Duchy of Braunschweig with around 5,400 soldiers and 2,100 horsemen and had already devastated several cities in the Harz foreland. The troops shelled the castle with heavy artillery, including the large-caliber Fürmösers ( mortars ). This caused considerable damage to the building - the castle chapel was not rebuilt afterwards - but the conquest of the castle failed. In the same year von Mansfeld fired a similar cannon at Lichtenberg Castle in Salzgitter, which then became a ruin. For Neuhaus Castle, its time as a knight's seat ended after the attack. It was converted into the official building of the Duchy of Braunschweig. An agricultural domain was established in the outbuildings of the castle. From 1585 to 1890 there was a brewery and a distillery in it. In 1934 the function of the castle as an official seat and domain ended.
During the time of National Socialism , the head of the Race and Settlement Main Office Walther Darré had a Reichssportschule (Reichsschule for physical exercises of the Reichsnährstand ) set up in the castle . Between 1936 and 1939 around 950 girls and boys from farming families took part in several weeks of courses with sports exercises and folk dances. The students were regarded as the “elite” of the “Nordic race” and received ideological training.
After the Second World War until 1980 the castle was a children's home. In 1981 the city of Wolfsburg acquired the 65-room complex on 3200 m² and housed repatriates in it for a few years, before opening it to citizens and associations in the Neuhaus district.
Since 1992 there has been a hotel and conference center in large parts of the former castle domain.
present
Nowadays the castle is enlivened by a colorful range of users and offers, such as:
- Friends of Burg Neuhaus e. V.
- Newcastle Renaissance dance troupe
- Castle Museum
- Citizens' office of the city of Wolfsburg
- Knight's hall and tower room for events and family celebrations
- kindergarten
- gym
- Play and sports club Neuhaus
- Artist and craft workshops (clay and metal sculptures, ceramics, textile design, painting)
- annually recurring events such as:
- Autumn artisans' market
- Burgsingen
- Castle Festival (on the last Saturday before the summer holidays)
- cultural autumn event of the Freundeskreis Burg Neuhaus
- Cake festival
See also
literature
- Hans Adolf Schultz : Castles and palaces of the Braunschweiger Land. Braunschweig 1980, ISBN 3-87884-012-8
- Hans Adolf Schultz: Castles, palaces and mansions in the Gifhorn-Wolfsburg area. Gifhorn 1985
- Karl-W. von Wintzingerode-Knorr: The Neuhaus Castle Museum. In: Museums and excursion destinations in the Gifhorn-Wolfsburg area. Gifhorn 1989
- Hermann Achilles: Neuhaus - castle, office, domain. Wolfsburg 1989
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The castles of Wolfsburg. In: If stones could talk , Volume III, pp. 136-138, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1995, ISBN 3-7842-0515-1
Web links
- Entry by Christian Frey and Stefan Eismann about Neuhaus near Wolfsburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Neuhaus Castle in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas
- Description and photos at Burgerbe.Blog.de
- Friends of Burg Neuhaus
- Neuhaus Castle in the Braunschweig-Ostfalen region
- Photos of Neuhaus Castle
Individual evidence
- ^ Exhibition: Neuhaus Castle as a NS sports forge. In: Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung , February 28, 2017
- ↑ Neuhaus Castle in the Nazi era. In: Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, February 22, 2017
