Wartenstein Castle (Pfäfers)

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Waiting stone
Wartenstein Castle ruins

Wartenstein Castle ruins

Creation time : around 1206
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Pfäfers
Geographical location 46 ° 59 '39.3 "  N , 9 ° 30' 37.9"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 59 '39.3 "  N , 9 ° 30' 37.9"  E ; CH1903:  seven hundred fifty-seven thousand five hundred and eighty-one  /  206879
Height: 730  m
Wartenstein Castle (Canton of St. Gallen)
Wartenstein Castle

The ruins of Wartenstein Castle are visible from afar high above the Rhine Valley on a steep rock head southwest of Bad Ragaz on the road to Pfäfers in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The ruins of the hilltop castle can be easily reached from the road in a few minutes via a footpath. The name is derived from the word waiting and means «stone from which one looks out».

history

Wartenstein ruins;
View of the Rhine Valley

Wartenstein was built around 1206 by order of Konrad von Zwiefalten , the abbot of the Reichskloster Pfäfers . The castle was first mentioned in 1208, when the later Emperor Otto IV pledged the guardianship over the monastery property to the knight Heinrich von Sax . In 1210 he pledged the bailiwick to Heinrich von Falkenstein. In 1217 the castle is mentioned as domum, quam Wartenstain nominartunt . In 1257 Abbot Rudolf III bought von Bernang returned the Bailiwick for 300 silver marks from the new owners, the Reich and the von Sax family.

In 1261 the lords of Wildenberg were appointed as monastery bailiffs by the monastery, who at that time lived in Freudenberg Castle near Bad Ragaz. In the 14th century, the Counts of Werdenberg-Heiligenberg succeeded the Wildenbergers as monastery bailiffs. Their cousins, the Counts of Werdenberg-Sargans, promised the abbot not to harm Wartenstein or even to take it.

In 1341, Abbot Hermann II of Arbon from Pfäfers had the castle rebuilt and repaired. A chapel was built in the fortress, but it can no longer be located today. Around 1430, Wartenstein Abbot Gerold von Eroltzheim served as his residence.

Wall of the residential tower

In 1482 Sargans became the seat of the bailiffs, who also took over the umbrella bailiffs over the Pfäfers and Wartenstein monastery. During the Swabian War, the castle was brought into a war-worthy condition and served the Confederates as a base. After the end of the war, Wartenstein was returned to the abbey in 1504. Under Abbot Wilhelm von Fulach it was renewed and equipped with weapons. During the Reformation , the then bailiff Aegidius Tschudi had the castle re-occupied in 1531 in the face of an impending monastery tower.

After the middle of the 16th century, sources describe the castle as dilapidated. Pfäfers Abbey gave up the worthless facility in 1586 and left it to the residents as a quarry. After the fire in the monastery in 1665, Abbot Bonifaz Tschupp had the castle largely demolished in order to extract building material. In 1838 the old imperial abbey was dissolved. Wartenstein became state property and was leased to the director of the spa facilities in Bad Ragaz. In 1951, security work prevented the continued disintegration. 1974 to 1976 the main castle and 1991 the whole complex was renovated.

The Hotel Schloss Wartenstein has stood west of the ruin (on the road to Pfäfers) since 1880 .

investment

Plant plan
Reconstruction of the castle complex in the highest stage of expansion

The mighty four-story residential tower of the upper core castle with its two meter thick foundation walls was the central building of the complex. It was accessible via a high entrance and was comfortably furnished from the second floor. Traces of a smoke vent can be seen next to window niches.

In a second construction phase in the middle of the 14th century, residential and commercial buildings were built north of the tower. They were broken up again around 1400 and gave way to a kennel with a defensive wall and a cistern. Three battlements with beam holes for the wooden battlement are still preserved from the Zwinger . At that time, instead of the old high entrance, the arched gate to the tower was broken out. In the younger lower castle, which is around 50 meters below, traces of at least five buildings can still be seen.

photos

  • Stairs from the residential tower to the upper courtyard

  • Steps to the lower castle

  • Lower castle

  • Window in the lower castle

  • Inner wall of the residential tower

literature

  • Werner Meyer : Castles of Switzerland , Volume 6, Zurich 1983
  • Erwin Rothenhäusler: The art monuments of the canton of St. Gallen , Volume I: The Sargans district. Basel 1951
  • Fritz Hauswirth: Castles and Palaces of Switzerland , Volume 2: Kreuzlingen
  • Thomas Bitterli: Swiss Castle Guide . Basel / Berlin 1995

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Boxler: The naming of castles in northeastern Switzerland and in Graubünden Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld 1976. p. 175