Riom Castle

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Riom Castle
View from the southeast

View from the southeast

Alternative name (s): Casti da Riom, Raetia Ampla
Creation time : around 1275
Castle type : Hill castle
Conservation status: receive
Place: Riom
Geographical location 46 ° 36 '33.3 "  N , 9 ° 35' 3.6"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 36 '33.3 "  N , 9 ° 35' 3.6"  E ; CH1903:  764 363  /  164247
Height: 1227  m
Riom Castle (Canton of Graubünden)
Riom Castle

The Riom Castle ( Rhaeto-Romanic Casti da Riom ) stands on an elongated spur below the village of Riom in the municipality of Surses in Oberhalbstein in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. Riom is one of the most important castle complexes in Graubünden and is under the protection of the canton and the Swiss Confederation.

investment

Aerial view of Riom Castle
Riom village with castle

The main building consists of a slender tower and a massive Palas . The tower has a square floor plan with a side length of 7 meters, the main hall measures 12 by 34 meters.

The 28-meter-high tower is connected to the palace up to the third floor and is illuminated through narrow notch windows. About a meter below the top of the wall there are remains of a panel cornice. The interior is not habitable; presumably the tower was only used for representational purposes.

The Palas of Riom Castle is the largest secular building of the late Middle Ages in Graubünden. It was built on two floors and a little later added one floor. It was originally crowned by a crenellated wreath that towered over a flat gable roof. The current roof is more recent, but based on an early modern construction. In front of the old high entrance on the second floor was a four-meter-long balcony that was accessible via an outside staircase. Inside, the remains of two chimneys, an oven and two toilet bays have been preserved.

In the south are the remains of a ring. The wall has slipped in the north, where the gate system can also be assumed. On the inside there were partly multi-storey buildings ajar.

history

In the middle of the 9th century there was a royal court in Riom, which Emperor Arnulf of Carinthia gave to a certain Ruotpert, who in 904 gave it to the Lorsch Monastery in exchange. How the court came to the Lords of Wangen- Burgeis from the Vinschgau is not known. They are credited with building Riom Castle around 1240 on the former royal court. The diocese of Chur did not want to accept this independent rule , as it would have cut off the bishop from the route over the Julier Pass and his possessions in the Engadine . In 1258 Berall von Wangen-Burgeis sold the castle, his property in Oberhalbstein and in Chur for 300 marks to his cousin, the Bishop of Chur, probably under pressure. For this he probably took money from the Vazern and set Riom Castle as a pledge; the pledge was only dissolved in 1275.

The castle had been owned by the Diocese of Chur since 1258 and was henceforth the seat of the governors who exercised high jurisdiction in Oberhalbstein. Since the beginning of the 14th century, the lords of Marmels owned the bailiwick, who had to keep the castle open to the bishop. In 1410 Riom is listed in the Buoch der Vestinen .

Memorial plaque to Benedikt Fontana
View from the north, around 1800

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the castle was repeatedly mortgaged. In 1473 Rigett von Fontana received the castle from the bishop as a fief after he had paid the transfer fee to the then pledge holder Hans von Sal. In 1492, Bishop Heinrich lent the castle to Benedikt Fontana , the leader of the Graubünden troops in the Battle of Calven .

In 1552 the valley was bought out of the episcopal rights. The rural community still met in the castle until the 18th century , otherwise it was uninhabited after the 16th century.

In 1867 the roof was removed in order to use the beams to rebuild the burned-down village of Riom, a year later the internal storeys were removed. According to Anton von Castelmur, the documents from the tower's archive served the women as food for their hoods or were used by children for play. Then it began to decay rapidly. The castle was occasionally used as a prison until the 19th century.

Modern times

South side

In 1936 the Swiss Castle Association under Eugen Probst undertook the first conservation measures. In 1973 the roof was re-covered.

In 2006, Riom Castle was converted into a 220-seat theater by the Chur architect Marcel Liesch for 1.3 million Swiss francs. All buildings were reversible and hardly affect the historical substance. All interventions were accompanied by the preservation of monuments and the archaeological service of the canton of Graubünden.

The Origen Festival Cultural , one of the largest cultural events in the Rhaeto-Romanic region of the canton, has been held annually at Riom Castle since 2006 . In the castle walls, gray boars nest in one of the largest colonies in Switzerland.

literature

  • Anton von Castelmur: The castles and palaces of the canton of Graubünden, vol. 3: Viamala, Schams, Schyn, Albulatal, Oberhalbstein, Bergell, Engadin (The castles and palaces of Switzerland; vol. 17). Birkhäuser-Verlag, Basel 1944.
  • Otto P. Clavadetscher, Werner Meyer : The castle book of Graubünden . Orell Füssli, Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-280-01319-4 .
  • Fritz Hauswirth: Castles and palaces in Switzerland, Vol. 9: Graubünden, Part 2: Southern Grisons and Ticino . Neptun Verlag, Kreuzlingen 1972.
  • Werner Meyer: Castles of Switzerland, Vol. 3: Canton of Graubünden (German-speaking and Romance parts) . Silva Verlag, Zurich 1983.
  • Ludmila Seifert, Leza Dosch: Art guide through Graubünden . Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-85881-216-2 .
  • Willy Zeller: Art and culture in Graubünden . Haupt Verlag, Bern 1993, ISBN 3-258-04759-6 (EA Bern 1972).
  • Jürg Rageth, Gion Peder Thöni: Riom. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . 2016 .

Web links

Commons : Riom Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Origen
  2. ↑ Swiss Society for Theater Culture ( Memento from April 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )