Ottmachau Castle
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The castle Ottmachau one of the oldest castles in Silesia and was already in the middle of the 12th century as castellany of the bishops of Wroclaw called. It was a castle of the Breslau bishops and later, until secularization in 1810, an important residential palace on the southern edge of the diocese . In 1818 it and the associated Vorwerk Ottmachau , also known as Klein-Vorwerk , passed into the property of Wilhelm von Humboldt and his family as a donation for political services as a Prussian diplomat and minister . Since the estate was abandoned because of the Ottmachau reservoir , the castle has been owned by the city and operated as a hotel.
Geographical location
Ottmachau Castle is located in the Upper Silesia region on the Glatzer Neisse on the southern outskirts of the city of the same name, Polish Otmuchów , about 15 kilometers west of Neisse and 70 kilometers southwest of Opole and a few kilometers east of the border with Lower Silesia.
history
The castle is a landmark of the city and is a symbol of 800 years of shared history with the Wroclaw diocese, which could date back to the founding of Wroclaw diocese in 1000, but certainly existed since 1155, when Pope Adrian IV. The castle and its surroundings were placed under the rule of the Breslau bishops by means of a protection document. In this oldest papal document for Silesia, the Pope listed 15 castellanias, including the Ottmachau castellanei with associated property.
The existence of the castle is also attested by the bull of Pope Innocent IV from 1245, in which the castle is listed along with the market, goods and accessories. A document from 1261 confirms the presence of a castellan. Based on the report of the chronicler Jan Dlugosz about the Mongol attack in Silesia, one can assume that Ottmachau Castle was destroyed in 1241. Since the second half of the 12th century, this defense structure had to take on an important defensive role, because the Wroclaw bishops also sought refuge there more often, as did Bishop Thomas II during his conflict with the Silesian Duke Henry IV of Wroclaw at the end of the 13th century Century. Even for his predecessor, Bishop Thomas I , Ottmachau was a special castle (document from 1263: "castelania specialis") of the diocese, and in 1283 Thomas II called it the diocese's special property. Both assumed that she had belonged to the diocese from the beginning.
In 1290 the castle gradually lost its primacy in the diocese on the Neisse, but it remained an important fortification on the southern border of the property. In the enlarged diocese, the bishops carried the titles of Prince of Neisse and Duke of Grottkau in the 14th century and thus became Prince-Bishops with sovereignty over their worldly possessions.
This new chapter in the history of the medieval castle was opened by Wroclaw Bishop Preczlaw von Pogarell from 1342-1376. Due to the skillful expansion of territorial holdings and good economic management, the diocese of Wroclaw was referred to as the "golden diocese" under his episcopate. He had also significantly supported the incorporation of Silesia in 1344 under the Silesian Piasts to the crown of Bohemia and thus indirectly to the empire.
The castle was expanded under him and also set up for court purposes. Treasures and valuables were kept in what is now the bishop's palace. On the other hand, the castle and the newly created town of Ottmachau, which had received German law, lost their priority in the diocese, because other lands (1344 Grottkau) and castles, for example Jauernig , were added. Elger Speil is documented as Burgrave of Ottmachau in 1352 .
The Hussites robbed and devastated the city of Ottmachau in the 15th century. Two years later, in 1430, the castle became their destination, contrary to their expectations, the conquest turned out to be very easy, they were given money for free travel. The Hussites owned the castle for several years and strengthened its defensive function. But they soon became aware of the importance this castle represented for the Wroclaw bishopric. They left the castle for the sum of 1100 shock Bohemian groschen. In the years 1484–1485, Bishop Johann IV. Roth rebuilt the property one last time at the end of the Middle Ages.
More splendid times began under the Breslau bishop Andreas von Jerin (1585–1596), who was an art patron in Silesia. He converted the entire medieval building into a renaissance castle. There are still sgraffitis and window frames from this period. This magnificent building was the target of the Swedish army during the Thirty Years War, which left nothing but smoking ruins. This time too, thanks to the Wroclaw bishops, the castle rose from the ruins again. But after the Silesian Wars it was only the administrative seat.
In the 18th century, construction work was carried out in the baroque style. The city side of the castle was given a small porch and a covered staircase that led to the first floor. With the secularization , the episcopal palace became Prussian state property. The castle belonged to the Ottmachau Vorwerk , also called Klein-Vorwerk , which was composed of a manor with the castle and a village. By 1861 the manor had an area of 640 acres , 440 acres of arable land, 50 acres of meadows and 150 acres of woodland, and 34 head of cattle and 400 sheep were kept.
In 1820 the Ottmachau manor with the castle and the associated land came to the Prussian Minister Wilhelm von Humboldt , who received it as a donation for his political services as a diplomat and minister from the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. received. Wilhelm von Humboldt decided to demolish the south-west wing to save the palace complex and use this material to rebuild the part of the palace that still exists today. It has also been rebuilt inside.
Because of the construction of the Ottmachau reservoir in the 1920s, the von Humboldt family sold the castle to the city, as large parts of the associated property had to disappear in the Neisse reservoir, which the Reich waterway administration had created. The city arranged the remains of the castle for tourist purposes until 1935, for which it still serves as a castle hotel.
Demographics
| year | population | Remarks |
|---|---|---|
| 1783 | 47 | |
| 1816 | 69 | |
| 1825 | 72 | in twelve houses |
| 1840 | 87 | in 14 houses, all residents are Catholics |
| 1852 | 111 | |
| 1855 | 113 | Civil residents |
| 1861 | 108 | all Catholics |
| 1867 | 32 | on December 3rd |
| 1871 | 24 | on December 1st, in three residential buildings with five families, all Catholics |
| 1910 | 165 | on December 1st |
Special features inside the castle
The original entrance consisted of three inconspicuous flights of stairs and a small side door. At the entrance, the castle guests were greeted with food and drink according to old tradition. Inside there is a " horse staircase" that was rebuilt so flat for the litter-carrying servants of the sick Bishop Philip von Sinzendorf (1732–47). A large fireplace has movable walls. A niche behind it is said to have been used to listen to the conversations in the great hall .
The “death hall” and the “sinking” are even more spectacular. The latter is a small room for convicts with a movable trap door in the floor, which was put into operation when the convict was addressed with the words “Go, you are free!”. He walked towards the door, stepped on this spot and fell 20 meters below the ground where the foundations of the towers were and the pointed stakes gave him no chance of survival. The "hunger cell" is said to be located above the sinking, with characters, drawings and letters that the convicts scratched with their fingernails.
Castle Park
A small palace park was created on the site of the demolished wing. Wilhelm's brother, Alexander von Humboldt, had foreign and rare trees imported and planted there.
In the actual palace park there are two baroque pleasure palaces built by Michael Klein for the Bishops of Breslau. The first is a hunting lodge (1703–1704), the second dates from 1706–1707 and today houses the Ottmachau city administration.
literature
- Karl August Müller: Patriotic images, or history and description of all castles and knight palaces in Silesia and the county of Glatz. Second edition, Glogau 1844, pp. 135–141.
- Hugo Weczerka (Hrsg.): Handbook of the historical places . Volume: Silesia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 316). Kröner, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-520-31601-3 , pp. 387-391.
- Anna Bedkowska-Karmelita: Travel guide through the Opole region. Alkazar, Opole 2008, verb. Edition 2009, ISBN 978-83-925591-3-9 , pp. 91/92.
Web links
- Search for Burg Ottmachau in the SPK digital portal of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation
- zamkipolskie.com - Polish website about castles and chateaus
- zamki.res.pl - Polish website about castles and chateaus
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Felix Triest : Topographisches Handbuch von Oberschlesien , Wilh. Gottl. Korn, Breslau 1865, p. 1215, point 2 .
- ↑ Friedrich Gottlob Leonhardi : Earth description of the Prussian monarchy , Volume 3, Part 1, Hemmerde and Schwetschke, Halle 1792, p. 159, see Ottmachauer Vorwerk .
- ↑ Alexander August Mützell and Leopold Krug : New topographical-statistical-geographical dictionary of the Prussian state . Volume 5: T – Z , Halle 1823, p. 83, item 782 .
- ↑ Johann Georg Knie : Alphabetical-statistical-topographical overview of the villages, spots, cities and other places of the royal family. Prussia. Province of Silesia, including the Margraviate of Upper Lusatia, which now belongs entirely to the province, and the County of Glatz; together with the attached evidence of the division of the country into the various branches of civil administration. Melcher, Breslau 1830, p. 814, see Vorwerk, Klein-, Reg. Oppeln .
- ^ Johann Georg Knie : Alphabetical-statistical-topographical overview of the villages, spots, cities and other places of the royal family. Preusz. Province of Silesia. 2nd Edition. Graß, Barth and Comp., Breslau 1845, p. 287, see Klein-Vorwerk .
- ^ Kraatz: Topographical-statistical manual of the Prussian state . Berlin 1856, p. 449 .
- ↑ a b Felix Triest : Topographisches Handbuch von Oberschlesien , Wilh. Gottl. Korn, Breslau 1865, p. 1178, paragraph 47 .
- ^ A b Royal Statistical Bureau: The municipalities and manor districts of the province of Silesia and their population. Based on the original materials of the general census of December 1, 1871. Berlin 1874, pp. 412–413, item 144 .
- ↑ gemeindeververzeichnis.de
Coordinates: 50 ° 27 ′ 49.5 ″ N , 17 ° 10 ′ 18.5 ″ E