Ringgenberg Castle (Graubünden)

Ringgenberg Castle
	Ringgenberg Castle, view from SE
Creation time :	around 1250
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Ministeriale
Construction:	Quarry stones, boulders
Place:	Zignau
Geographical location	46 ° 44 '18.3 " N , 9 ° 0' 31.9" E Coordinates: 46 ° 44 '18.3 " N , 9 ° 0' 31.9" E ; CH1903: 720000 / 177558
Height:	936 m

The ruins of the medieval Ringgenberg Castle are located in the municipality of Trun in the Swiss canton of Graubünden . Together with Friberg Castle in Siat , Ringgenberg formed the eastern border barrier of the territory of the Disentis monastery in Chur.

location

The ruin lies above the village of Zignau on an elongated moraine hill , separated from the slope by a natural incision. It can be reached through a narrow street, there is parking a little below the castle.

investment

The corner cubes of the southwest corner of the wall

The inside of the tower with external walls offset to the outside

The center of the facility is a square, four-story tower with a 2.5 meter thick wall and a height of 18 meters. The walls consist of rubble stones and boulders . The neatly crafted long corner stones are striking.

Towards the top, the wall thickness decreases from storey to storey, and the resulting steps served as support surfaces for the beams of the individual floors. Windows with seating niches, a rubble stone embedded in the wall and the remains of stove tiles found during a restoration characterize the tower as a residential building.

The high entrance was on the east side at the level of the third floor. The wooden arbor on the south side, recognizable by beam holes and an exit, was probably used for defense and for drying agricultural products. A pulled-down tent or pyramid roof could be used as the roof shape.

The tower stood in the center of a surrounding wall in the shape of an elongated rectangle directed downwards. In the west there were presumably no longer recognizable gates and a kennel , of which only a few remains can be seen; the immediate vicinity of the tower is heavily overgrown. The development within the Bering can no longer be determined.

Between 1960 and 1961, the top of the wall and the tower ceiling of the complex were restored under the direction of the architect Christian Frutiger. Associated with this was an emergency excavation; the finds are now in the Rhaetian Museum in Chur.

history

Ringgenberg 1894

Due to the design, it can be assumed that it was built in the middle of the 13th century. The Lords of Ringgenberg have been documented in Graubünden since 1283. They originally came from Ringgenberg on Lake Brienz , where they had their headquarters in the local Ringgenberg Castle . The common origin is shown by the same coat of arms, which shows a buckle (= ring). The sex divided into several lines that established themselves in different areas of the Alpine region.

The Ringgenberger Ministeriale of the Abbot of Disentis were in Zignau ; In 1283 Rudolf von Ringgenberg is mentioned. In 1325 Johann and Anton von Ringgenberg are attested as guarantors for the abbot. In the 15th century Rudolf von Ringgenberg, mayor in Chur, played a leading role in the Gray League and the Church of God. In 1351, when Zurich was admitted to the Confederation, the Ringgenberg Fortress was established as the border point of the area within which Zurich and the Confederates were supposed to support each other militarily.

Ringgenberg seems to have been abandoned during the 15th century. According to a document from 1494, only the courtyard belonging to the castle was still inhabited.

literature

Otto P. Clavadetscher, Werner Meyer : The castle book of Graubünden . Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-280-01319-4 .
Fritz Hauswirth: Castles and palaces in Switzerland. Volume 8 . Neptun Verlag, Kreuzlingen 1972.
Werner Meyer: Castles of Switzerland. Volume 3 . Silva Verlag, Zurich 1983.

Web links

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

Castle world: Ringgenberg Castle