Schweinsberg Castle (Hesse)

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Schweinsberg Castle
View of Schweinsberg Castle (in the background)

View of Schweinsberg Castle (in the background)

Creation time : Upper castle probably from 1231
Castle type : Höhenburg, location
Conservation status: Essential parts preserved, partially rebuilt
Standing position : Barons Schenck zu Schweinsberg
Construction: Sandstone
Place: Schweinsberg (Stadtallendorf)
Geographical location 50 ° 46 '3.4 "  N , 8 ° 57' 41"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 46 '3.4 "  N , 8 ° 57' 41"  E
Height: 215  m above sea level NHN
Schweinsberg Castle (Hesse)
Schweinsberg Castle

The Schweinsberg castle is a mountain castle on a small basalt rock of around 215 meters above sea level. NHN in the (former) town of Schweinsberg , now part of the town of Stadtallendorf in the Marburg-Biedenkopf district , Central Hesse .

history

In the 12th century, the area of ​​today's Schweinsberg was still the property of the von Merlau family and, through the marriage of the knight Guntram Vogt with a sister of the knight Eberhard von Merlau, came into the possession of the later Schenken zu Schweinsberg . Around 1230/31, the time of the holy Elizabeth of Hungary , the son Guntram, the landgräflich Thuringian built Burgmann Guntram of Marburg and Green Mountain, a castle on the small basalt rock . Guntram took on the name "von Schweinsberg" and was ordered by the Landgrave of Thuringia , the German King Heinrich Raspe IV. , To give the Hessian inheritance .

Around 1482 the castle was considerably expanded and adapted to the latest requirements by the landgrave fortress builder Hans Jakob von Ettlingen . A huge outer wall was built, secured by three semicircular protruding towers and the mighty witch's tower. The main building of the castle, the Kemenate , was built between 1459 and 1497 by Conrad Schenck zu Schweinsberg , bailiff of Lich. A rectangular outer bailey was placed in front of the main entrance , the entrance of which was covered by a round fortified tower and which is still preserved today.

During the Thirty Years War , part of the fortifications was destroyed by fire and the explosion of the powder tower . Landgravine Amalie Elisabeth then ordered the complete razing of all fortifications of the castle, despite efforts by the Schencken to save their ancestral castle from ruin.

View of town and castle

In 1852 the bower was converted into Schweinsberg by Senior Court Counselor Moritz Freiherr Schenck, after it had not been inhabited for decades. Under the direction of the Marburg architect Lange, the bower received a neo-Gothic extension. Although the alterations significantly distorted the style of the old bower, they corresponded to the romantic notion of Gothic at the time . Parallel to the renovations, the garden was also laid out, which Georg Landau enthusiastically reports. Due to this radical reconstruction, Schweinsberg Castle is now more of an important example of Romanticism and the beginning of historicism than of a late medieval castle. The two remaining houses of the castle were extensively restored in 1982 (Fähnrichsbau) and 1998 (Conrads Kemenate). A total of seven condominiums were built. Both a von Schenck family and a descendant of the builder of the bower, Konrad Schenck zu Schweinsberg, live in the apartments of the bower. The outer ramparts are owned by a Schenck Foundation. This family has been present in Schweinsberg and the castle for over 780 years.

Schweinsberg Castle (in the background) around 1850 ( steel engraving )

literature

Elmar Brohl : Fortresses in Hessen. Published by the German Society for Fortress Research eV, Wesel, Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2013 (=  German Fortresses  2), ISBN 978-3-7954-2534-0 , pp. 171–176. Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 268. Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 336f.

Web links

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