Untermaubach Castle
| Untermaubach Castle | ||
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.jpg) Untermaubach Castle |
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| Creation time : | 1350 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Received or received substantial parts | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Untermaubach | |
| Geographical location | 50 ° 43 '34 " N , 6 ° 27' 16" E | |
| Height: | 162 m above sea level NHN | |
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The castle Untermaubach is in Untermaubach , a district of Kreuzau , above the Rur in Düren , North Rhine-Westphalia .
Brief description
Untermaubach Castle is an irregular, polygonal hill castle made of quarry stone . It rises to 162 m above sea level. NHN over the Rur and can be seen from afar.
history
Count Adalbert von Nörvenich , who lived around the middle of the 12th century, can be regarded as the founder of Untermaubach Castle . In addition to the county of Nörvenich, he also carried the old county of the "lower forest", to which Untermaubach belonged, as a fief . Since 1153 he called himself Graf von Molbach (Maubach). After Adalbert's death in 1177, his son-in-law, Count Wilhelm II von Jülich, inherited his property. Untermaubach Castle, however, quickly became meaningless, as Wilhelm began building Nideggen Castle soon after the inheritance , to which he moved the Count's residence in 1191.
Around 1350, Edmund von Engelsdorf , a powerful vassal of the Jülich count family, who was the lord of Engelsdorf Castle near Aldenhoven , owned the castle. Significant parts of the Gothic complex, such as the residential tower, date from this period . This large, square block building with two and a half meters thick walls now forms the western part of the manor house .
Edmund von Engelsdorf died around 1399 and all of his possessions, including Untermaubach Castle, fell to his daughter Alveradis, who was married to Werner von Palant . After his death in 1455, Edmund von Palant, who lived until 1534, inherited the castle. The further expansion of the facility dates from the 15th century. The gate tower , the defensive wall and the round prison tower are witnesses of this time.
Edmund von Palant died childless. His three brothers-in-law von der Leyen, von Heiden and von Nesselrode inherited the property together. In 1617 the von Heiden family, who in the meantime had become sole owners, ceded the castle to Baron Wilhelm von Efferen . At this point in time the buildings were in poor condition, the roofs were partly missing. Wilhelm von Efferen rebuilt Untermaubach Castle. From a military point of view, the medieval system was long out of date, as it was no longer able to withstand the powder guns that had existed in Europe since the 15th century. Therefore Wilhelm von Efferen did not need to take such aspects into account in his construction work. The walls of the residential tower were broken and it was extended to the east to a manor house. In this way, the baron increased the space and thus the living comfort.
Wilhelm von Efferen's nephew, who succeeded him as lord of the castle, could not hold the property and pledged it in 1649 to the von Dunckel family, who became owners in 1653. The von Palant family is now trying to get it back on the basis of their old rights. This was achieved in 1717 by Johanna von Kolff, the widow of Marsil von Palant.
The mansion was then given its current baroque appearance. The mansard roof and the simple rectangular windows stem from this construction phase. The farm buildings also date from the 18th century. With Johanna's son Adolph Wilhelm, this line of the von Palant family became extinct and Adolph Wilhelm's brother-in-law Ferdinand von Spies von Büllesheim inherited the castle. His grandson Franz Hugo sold the property, which was partially parceled out around 1840, into bourgeois hands. The brothers Peter and Christian Hassert owned Untermaubach Castle for a long time before Count Wilderich von Spee bought it in 1874.
The property was in a ruinous condition at the time and was repaired by the von Spee family , who still own Untermaubach Castle today. During the fighting in the Hürtgenwald in World War II , the facility suffered severe damage from artillery and aircraft fire. When the destruction was removed, some of the baroque ingredients, for example on the gate tower, were removed and the original Gothic state restored.
The current lord of the castle, Mariano Graf von Spee, was awarded the Rhenish Monument Prize in 1998.
