Oberranna Castle

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Oberranna Castle
Oberranna Castle

Oberranna Castle

Alternative name (s): Hotel Burg Oberranna
Creation time : 12th Century
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: very good
Standing position : Nobility, citizen
Geographical location 48 ° 22 '47.8 "  N , 15 ° 20' 21.5"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 22 '47.8 "  N , 15 ° 20' 21.5"  E
Oberranna Castle (Lower Austria)
Oberranna Castle

The Burg Oberranna (also listed in part as Burg Ranna ) is a Höhenburg at the boundary of Wachau and the forest area at Oberranna , a Katastralgemeinde of Mühldorf in Lower Austria.

overview

Its specialty is the connection between the fortified church and the castle. At the time of its construction, the fortified church stood protectively in front of the much smaller castle and thus completely took on the defensive function. Ranna was originally intended to monitor the Griesteig (the connection from the rear building to Fohraberg ). By expanding the fortifications during troubled times, it was never possible to conquer the castle.

history

The origin is unknown. It must have existed before 1070, because in that year the Lords of Grie bought the castle and the area of ​​Ranna. The new masters also called themselves "von Ranna or Rannah" and had a golden griffin on a black field in their coat of arms . They came from the Rotgau in Bavaria in the wake of the powerful Counts of Formbach . Its first representative known by name is Pilgrim von Grie-Rauhnah. During a serious illness, his successor Waldo von Reun stipulated in his will that his property should go to Prince Margrave Leopold III, the saint, after his death. Contrary to expectations, however, he soon recovered and after his marriage changed the will in favor of his wife and daughter. Leopold III. now called a court hearing in his residence, the Burg Gars and the dispute turned out to his advantage. After Waldo's death, Leopold gave part of his property to his sister Gerbirg, whereupon she moved her residence to Ranna and Purk in 1120. She had a free-standing Romanesque fortified church built next to Ranna Castle. In 1120 another court meeting took place at Burg Gars, at which Pilgrim II, the son of Pilgrim I, got part of the property back. Then there is a historical gap of over 100 years.

Vestibule in Oberranna Castle

The marriage of Agnes von Ranna with Ulrich von Neidegg in 1370 is documented. The connection between the two noble families also brought a new coat of arms: the golden griffin on the top left and bottom right on a black background (the coat of arms of Ranna-Grie) and top right and below left three red scallops on a silver background (the Neidegger coat of arms). With the assumption of his inheritance, her son, Hans von Neidegg, set the starting point for the rule of the Neideggers on Ranna in 1397, which continued into the 16th century lasted. In 1560 Georg von Neidegg had the castle expanded to its present shape and size.

20th century

In 1901, Göttweig Abbey acquired shares in the property, while Baron Hammerstein acquired the castle in 1905. His wife, the actress Annie Dirkens , had to sell the furnishings piece by piece after his death, most recently she moved the altar of the castle church in Vienna's Dorotheum . Eventually the castle was put up for auction.

In 1930 she was bought by Laurent Deleglise . He released the altar and began extensive renovation work, during which the crypt was discovered. He was buried in the Niederanna cemetery and his widow lived alone in the castle until 1982. The castle has been privately owned since 1982 and has been restored with great craftsmanship and with the advice of the Federal Monuments Office . Today the castle is used, among other things, as a hotel with 12 guest rooms.

Oberranna Castle has been for sale since July 2018.

architecture

tower

The renaissance fresco painting over the entrance gate spanned the entire facade. It is assumed that in the frescoes above the entrance the three most important residents of the castle, Georg von Neidegg, his wife Siguna, née. von Kirchberg, and Georg's brother Roland von Neidegg, Vogt over the Pauline monastery Unterranna at the foot of the Burgberg are shown. The whole courtyard was probably painted with the same decoration system.

lobby

This room was only added in 1560 under Georg von Neidegg. Before that time, the entrance gate was here. These fresco paintings are the typical product of an imprecise restoration in the 1950s, because the original painting had been cleaned so thoroughly that it was almost completely destroyed and then painted over without hesitation. The time of the restoration is known so precisely because electrical cables came to light under the paintings during the renovation work.

Courtyard

This tract was also built under Georg von Neidegg (1560), the part from the construction joint was built at a later time, it is not known exactly when. The castle cemetery south of the church served until the order was founded by Hans v. Neidegg as the burial place of the lords of the castle. Other dead were buried in the crypt or brought to St. Michael ad Donau. From now on, the Neidegger family members were buried in the monastery church.

church
Pillar of the crypt

The church is strategically located at the highest point of the place. Its axis is parallel to the mountain axis and is therefore not exactly faces east , but turned slightly towards the NE-SW. This building, which was originally equipped with two towers, is a scaled-down copy of the Romanesque dome. This style was brought to Austria by the shadow monks from Normandy via Regensburg. The castle, which is separated from the church, was connected in the Middle Ages by a wooden corridor that could be pulled in in an emergency near the first floor. Otherwise it was only connected to the castle by common defensive walls

Inside

Although Georg du Clauban is only mentioned as pastor of Oberranna in 1360 , the church must have had parish rights since time immemorial, which were transferred to the Pauline monastery in 1424. Parish churches that form a defense unit with a castle are rather rare. The single-nave Romanesque church had two crossing towers and a west crypt, similar to the church of St. Emmeran in Regensburg and is a rare type of building. When the church was restored by the previous owner, Mr. Laurent Deleglise, the interior of the church was divided by four walls and so gave 13 rooms. The western part of the church was completely built into the castle and the lower part of the west transept was filled in.

When Johann von Greifenfels on Viehofen bought the Oberranna estate in 1650, he had an altar built in the church next to the sacristy, above which an inscription refers to him and his wife. The side altar is painted in Hungarian peasant baroque . The frescoes on the ceiling show the sacrificial lamb in the middle and the symbols of the four evangelists are depicted around them. From the church you get to the crypt through an arched entrance. This west crypt is an almost square, 5 m long and 4.8 m wide room. It is divided by four columns into nine arched cross yokes, which are clamped between the longitudinal and transverse straps. A narrow, inwardly widening wall slot on the south side of the crypt was used when the westwork was still free, as a lookout or as a shooting hatch for archers, because the old entrance to the castle once passed at this point of the crypt and the enemy who passed here had to take theirs Turn the right side of the chest uncovered by the shield towards the defender. The Romanesque window was also used for defense in conjunction with the west tower. The division of the room into small, almost always square yokes is a characteristic of the hall crypt. The figurative capital of the crypt columns crowns the southwest column, which was closest to the old entrance - the person entering should notice this capital first. On one capital side there is a depiction of an animal, which is interpreted as a lamb or a dog. The long tail, which reaches almost to the ground, speaks against the representation of a lamb. The following picture is seen as a donkey, which is rare in the Waldviertel. In a similar representation on the north portal of the Romanesque church in Gögging, the horned animal is interpreted as a scapegoat . On the west side of the capital, a male head appears with an only slightly visible upper body. He blows a horn, which suggests a hunting scene. Although the blowing of the trumpets from Jericho can also be meant, which is considered to be the model for the Last Judgment.

literature

  • Wilfried Bahnmüller: Castles and palaces in Lower Austria . NP-Buchverlag, St. Pölten / Salzburg 2005, ISBN 3-85326-367-4 .
  • Evelyn Benesch, Bernd Euler-Rolle , Claudia Haas, Renate Holzschuh-Hofer, Wolfgang Huber, Katharina Packpfeifer, Eva Maria Vancsa-Tironiek, Wolfgang Vogg: Lower Austria north of the Danube (=  Dehio-Handbuch . Die Kunstdenkmäler Österreichs ). Anton Schroll & Co, Vienna et al. 1990, ISBN 3-7031-0652-2 , p. 826 ff .
  • Georg Binder: The Lower Austrian castles and palaces. (2 volumes.) Vienna / Leipzig 1925 II, p. 35.
  • Bertrand Michael Buchmann , Brigitte Fassbinder: Castles and palaces between Gföhl, Ottenstein and Grafenegg. Castles and palaces in Lower Austria . Volume 17, Birch series, St. Pölten / Vienna 1990, pp. 20 ff.
  • Falko Daim , Karin Kühtreiber, Thomas Kühtreiber : Castles - Waldviertel, Wachau, Moravian Thayatal . 2nd edition, Verlag Freytag & Berndt, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7079-1273-9 , p. 334 ff.
  • Richard Kurt Donin: The Romanesque church of Ranna Castle. In: Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte XI . Vienna 1936, pp. 5-40.
  • Franz Eppel : The Wachau . Verlag St. Peter, Salzburg 1975, p. 165 f.
  • Felix Halmer: Lower Austria's castles, a selection . Birkenverlag, Vienna 1956, p. 78 f.
  • Karl Kafka: Fortified churches of Lower Austria II . Birkenverlag, Vienna 1970, p. 10 ff.
  • Friedrich-Wilhelm Krahe: Castles of the German Middle Ages. Floor plan dictionary . Würzburg 1994, p. 448.
  • Martina Lorenz, Karl Portele: Castles Palaces Austria . Vienna 1997, p. 57.
  • Laurin Luchner: castles in Austria I . Munich 1978, p. 224 f.
  • Georg Clam-Martinic : Austrian Castle Lexicon. Photographs by Gerhard Trumler . Landesverlag, Linz 1992, ISBN 978-3-85214-559-4 , p. 165:.
  • Gerhard Stenzel : From castle to castle in Austria. 1973, p. 44 f.
  • Gerhard Stenzel: Austria's castles . Himberg 1989, p. 104 f.
  • Association for regional studies of Lower Austria (ed.): Topography of Lower Austria . Vienna 1877 ff. V / 1909, p. 355 f.
  • Georg Matthäus Vischer : Topographia Archiducatus Austriae Inferioris Modernae 1672. Reprint. Graz 1976 VOMB, No. 89.
  • Franz Vorderwinkler: On the trail of culture (Lower Austria, Upper Austria) . Mediapress, Steyr 1995, ISBN 3-901195-06-8 .

Movie

  • Old castles and their new masters in Lower Austria. Documentary, Austria, 2018, 24 Min, written and directed by. Barbara Baldauf, Camera: Ossi Denkmayr, Helmut Muttenthaler Production: ORF , Row: Experience Austria , first broadcast May 6, 2018 in ORF 2 , Summary of ORF, online- Video.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Castle Shopping" on the Internet. In: orf.at , July 29, 2018, accessed on August 30, 2019.
  2. ↑ Oberranna Castle. In: Österreichisches Burgenlexikon / Austria-Forum