Wenden Castle

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Aerial view of the main castle of Wenden, view from the southeast

Wenden Castle ( Latvian Cēsu pils ) is the ruin of a former Teutonic castle in the Latvian city ​​of Cēsis ( German  Wenden ). With brief interruptions, it was the seat of the Livonian landmaster from 1297 to 1561 and the administrative center of the entire order property in Livonia .

Erected by the Order of the Brothers of the Sword in the first quarter of the 13th century, it replaced a previous wooden structure and, after the Order of the Brothers of the Sword was incorporated into the Teutonic Order, under Hermann von Balk, it became the headquarters of the Livonia Masters . Balk's successors expanded the castle into a closed four-wing complex with three fortified outer castles until around the beginning of the 15th century . During the 15th to 17th centuries the complex was besieged , conquered, devastated and damaged several times and finally abandoned after 1703. At that time it was already in ruins.

In the 18th century, the owners at the time, the von Wolff family, had a manor house built as a new residential building in the area of ​​one of the bailies , and from 1812 the Sievers family laid out a landscape garden in the romantic style. The first maintenance measures in 1912 were followed by further maintenance and restoration measures at regular intervals , but despite existing reconstruction plans, the castle remained a ruin, which is now one of the main tourist attractions of the city of Cēsis.

The plant is since December 16, 1998 as a cultural monument under monument protection and is one of the best preserved ruins in Latvia. The castle hill called Nussberg, on which the wooden predecessor stood, has been protected as a monument since the same day .

history

Beginnings

The first order castle stood on the Nussberg.

After the conquest of the area around Wenden by the Order of the Brothers of the Sword, the latter built a wooden castle on the Nussberg, a wooden castle under his master Wenno, on the Nussberg, where there was also a Latgale settlement . The Livonian Rhyming Chronicle reports on the construction of this first castle, which from then on served as a base for the order. Older publications often mention the year 1209 as the start of construction for a stone successor complex in the immediate vicinity of the wooden castle, but the construction of the stone castle only began after 1212 when Wenno's successor Volkwin von Naumburg in the second decade of the 13th century. It is guaranteed that the Sword Brothers lived on Alt-Wenden as late as 1210. Construction was finished in 1224, and the wooden fortifications on the Nussberg subsequently served as the outbuilding for the new facility. The castle settlement was mentioned for the first time in a document three years earlier in 1221 because of a fire. It soon received city rights and became a member of the Hanseatic League .

Expansion and renovation

Wolter von Plettenberg expanded Wenden Castle to its final size.

After the incorporation of the Order of the Brothers of the Sword into the Teutonic Order, the first Livonian landmaster Hermann von Balk chose Wenden Castle as his headquarters and made it the center of Livonia's mastership with its central archive and chancellery as well as the order library. In 1237/1238 Balk had additions made to the system. Except for a few fragments of the wall, nothing has survived from that time. By probably 1400 the main castle was expanded by the landmasters Wennemar von Brüggenei and Konrad von Vietinghoff to a closed four-wing complex in the form of a fort castle with a massive square tower on the west corner. At the same time, three outer castles were built and the fortifications were strengthened by creating kennels and moats .

In 1413 construction work on the castle stopped due to changes in the balance of power, because after the battle of Tannenberg , which was lost in 1410 , the Teutonic Order and the Archdiocese of Riga fought for supremacy in Livonia. As a consequence, the order only carried out construction work on military installations at that time. This only changed again at the end of the 15th / beginning of the 16th century, when Landmeister Wolter von Plettenberg had four new towers built in Wenden Castle and many of the interior rooms were equipped with Gothic vaulted ceilings . The two round towers on the south and north corners of the core castle as well as two further round towers in the outer castles date from this time . In addition, Plettenberg had the western Vierecksturm partially rebuilt around 1500, so that it received its current, round upper floor. Plettenberg's changes in the interior of the main castle included the vaulting of the ballroom in the south wing and the completion of the star vault in the so-called master chamber, the representative room of the landmaster in the west tower of the castle in 1522 .

Early modern age

In the second half of the 16th century, Wenden was twice conquered and devastated by Russian troops during the Livonian War . This happened for the first time in 1560. Only one year later, the last master of the order Gotthard Kettler ceded the mastership of Livonia - and with it also the castle and city of Wenden - to Poland , in order to transfer it from the Polish King Sigismund II August as the secular, Protestant duchy of Courland and Semgallia to get back. After Wenden surrendered to Magnus of Denmark on August 2, 1577 , it was besieged and shot at once more by soldiers of Ivan the Terrible . To prevent the castle from falling into Russian hands again, 300 people gathered in the north wing blew themselves up on September 5, 1577 by igniting the powder supply in the complex. The neighboring Romanesque chapel was also destroyed. Although the victim could not prevent the capture of Wendens by Russian soldiers, the castle and town were recaptured by Polish troops in December of the same year.

Changing ownership

The beginning of the 17th century was a troubled time for Wenden Castle. Sometimes it was under Swedish, sometimes under Polish rule. During this contested time, a hall in the south wing of the complex was blown up in 1604. In 1626 it finally fell to Sweden. As early as August 19, 1622, the Swedish King Gustav II Adolf had given Wenden Castle and the associated land with other goods to his Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna . His family owned the complex until the goods were reduced in 1680, when it was expropriated. In the 1680s, Wenden Castle was no longer habitable, only the buildings used for agriculture were still in order. During the Great Northern War , the city of Wenden was captured and burned by Russian troops in 1703. However, it is questionable whether this also applied to the castle. Nevertheless, the system was subsequently abandoned.

Russian rule and partly new construction

Colored drawing of the castle ruins by August Matthias Hage , 1820

When Wenden fell to Russia in 1721 through the conquests of Peter the Great , the castle came into state ownership before the Russian Empress Anna Ivanovna gave it to her favorite Ernst Johann von Biron in 1730 . He leased the property located on the castle grounds . After falling out of favor and being arrested, his entire property - including Wenden Castle - was confiscated , and Empress Elisabeth I transferred the Wenden property to Chancellor Alexei Petrovich Bestuschew-Ryumin . He sold it on July 7, 1755 for 80,000  rubles to Johann Gottlieb von Wolff . His family had a manor house built in the area of ​​the eastern outer bailey around 1761. For 47,000 rubles, the property then changed to Carl Adam von Wolff, whose widow and children it was on November 29, 1777 for 96,000 thalers Alb. sold to Karl von Sievers . He had a landscaped garden laid out on the castle grounds between 1812 and 1815, making it one of the few parks in Latvia today that has real and not artificial ruins . There were plans to rebuild the castle in the 19th century, but they were never realized.

20th century and current use

The Sievers family remained the owners of the complex until it was expropriated in 1920. Under her, the first maintenance work began in 1912, which in 1914 also included construction work on the upper part of the west tower. It received its present shape and was provided with a conical roof. In 1937, 1952 to 1962 and from 1992 further maintenance and restoration measures followed. The renewed restoration of the massive west tower ended in 2015. At the same time as the construction work, excavations took place in the castle area , for example in 1927, 1960 and from 1974 to 2008. Archaeologists secured almost 13,000 finds from the 13th to 18th centuries.

The castle can be visited for a fee. There are guided tours for interested visitors; both in the ruins and in the manor house from the 18th century, which has housed the Wenden City Museum for History and Art since 1949. Regular events such as a medieval festival that takes place every year in late summer and a historical film festival are also part of the program, as are knights' meals and children's parties. In addition, various rooms can be rented for events such as conferences, seminars, weddings, concerts or theater performances.

description

Ground floor plan

In the Middle Ages , the castle complex in Wenden consisted of a core castle, which was surrounded on three sides by fortified outer castles. The fourth side to the west was protected by a deep moat. The castle areas were separated from each other by walls , kennels, gateways and ditches. Moats in the north-east and north-west separated the outer castles from the city of Wenden, whose city ​​wall was connected to the castle. In total, the facility took up around four hectares of floor space. Broken limestone was mainly used as building material , but field stones were also used in some cases . In the 15./16. In the 19th century, bricks were used to install the Gothic vaulted ceilings.

A landscape garden from the beginning of the 19th century stretches west of the castle with winding footpaths, exotic plants, a pond and the castle hill called Nussberg, on which the predecessor of the Teutonic Order Castle stood.

Outer castles

Aerial view of the castle complex with the location of the three previously existing outer castles marked therein

The main access to the complex was via the second outer bailey in the northeastern area of ​​the castle area. A wooden bridge led to the gate building there on the north side. A second gate on the south side led into the large first outer bailey in the southern area of ​​the castle complex. This second gate was protected by a large round tower from the second half of the 15th century, which was called the "Lademacherturm" and whose upper part is only a reconstruction today. A two-story mansion with a mansard roof from the 18th century stands on the site of the gateway . The plaster building is directly adjacent to the Lademacher tower.

In the north of the inner bailey and east of the second bailey there was a third bailey in the 17th century, which had its own massive gate and was separated from the core bailey by a large ditch. But nothing of their development has survived today. The situation is different with the structure of the first outer bailey in the southern area of ​​the Wendener Ordensburg. Both the curtain wall and the round tower on the west side have been preserved from her. From the area of ​​the first outer bailey, a 42 meter long bridge leads over the neck ditch to the gate of the inner bailey.

Core castle

Aerial view of the main castle from the north-west

Wendens core castle took up an area measuring around 60 × 60 meters, making it one of the largest castles in the Teutonic Order . Its four three-storey wings formed an irregular square and surrounded an inner courtyard. The main floors were on the first floor. There were splendid halls, of which stone consoles still exist today . The north, west and south corners were marked by corner towers, while the Romanesque chapel stood on the east corner. Its single storey was spanned by a three- bay vault. It was 25 meters long and 9.75 to 11 meters wide. A niche for a sacrament house can be found in the remaining wall remains on its north side . Of the rest of the north wing and the former west wing, only the basements remain, while the outer walls of the east and south wings are almost completely preserved. On the ground floor, structural remains on the courtyard sides testify to the open galleries that used to be there .

The southern corner tower of the main castle bears the name "Langer Hermann" and is one of a total of four round towers of the castle complex. The outside diameters of these towers are all between 13 and 14 meters, and their walls are between 4 and 4.7 meters thick. While the northern round tower was intended for the installation of heavy artillery , the room in the basement of the Tall Hermann served as a dungeon . The base and lower masonry area of the south tower consist of alternating layers of limestone and field stones. About halfway up it has decorative blind arcades , every second of which is equipped with a throwing loop. The upper end of the tower consists of a semicircular arch fries , wherein each second sheet has a loophole has.

Star vault in the master chamber

The massive west tower has a 17 × 17 meter square floor plan, but its top floor is round and provided with a tiled conical roof. The outer walls are up to 4.6 meters thick and therefore offer enough space for the corridors and spiral staircases . The basement of the west tower has a ceiling with groin vaults , while the 7.75 × 8.1 meter living and representation room of the landmaster on the first floor, known as the “master chamber”, has the remains of a late Gothic star vault. It used to be glazed blue , and its 69  keystones were decorated with gold stars. In addition to the residential aspect, the west tower served to protect the main entrance to the main castle, which was next to it on the ground floor of the south wing and led to the paved inner courtyard.

On the first floor of the south wing was a 20.6 meter long and 7.8 meter wide ballroom with a vaulted ceiling, of which the consoles have still been preserved. Most of the main floor of the east wing was occupied by the 22 × 11 meter refectory with a simple ribbed vault supported by three slender central columns. On the ground floor below there was a bakery , the kitchen and a brewery. The western part of the north wing next to the castle chapel may have been used as a chapter house.

and display information about the image
Panorama from the south-east; on the right in the background the 18th century mansion

literature

  • Zigrida Apala: Archaeological evidence from Cēsis Castle / Wenden at the time of the Livonian War. In: Norbert Angermann, Ilgvars Misāns (ed.): Wolter von Plettenberg and medieval Livonia (= writings of the Baltic Historical Commission. Volume 7). Norddeutsches Kulturwerk, Lüneburg 2001, ISBN 3-922296-89-0 , pp. 199–228.
  • Sabine Bock: Great Castle Tour, Historical Livonia, September 8-15, 2012. Excursion guide. German Castle Association, Braubach 2012, pp. 35–38.
  • Dainis Bruģis: Cēsu Jaunā pils. Cēsu Kultūras un Tūrisma centrs, Cēsis 2016, ISBN 978-9934-8472-4-0 .
  • Gundars Kalniņš: Cēsis castle. Cēsu pils. Cēsu Kultūras un Tūrisma centrs, Cēsis 2014, ISBN 978-9934-8472-1-9 .
  • Gundars Kalniņš: Cēsu pils: ilustrētā vēsture. Cēsu Kultūras un Tūrisma centrs, Cēsis 2017, ISBN 978-9934-8472-6-4 .
  • Karl von Löwis of Menar : The castles of Livonian Switzerland. Segewold, Treyden, Kremon and Wenden. Alexander Stiega, Riga 1895, pp. 43–59 ( PDF ; 163.9 MB).
  • Klaus Neitmann: Turning C.5. (Cēsis). In: Werner Paravicini (Ed.): Handbook of Courtyards and Residences in the Late Medieval Empire. Volume 1: A dynastic-topographical handbook, Part 2: Residences. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2003, ISBN 978-3-7995-4515-0 , pp. 618-621 ( online ).
  • Armin Tuulse: The castles in Estonia and Latvia (= negotiations of the learned Estonian society. Volume 33). Dorpater Estonischer Verlag, Dorpat 1942, pp. 46–47, 127–128, 188–193, 327–330 ( PDF ; 15.5 MB).

Web links

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

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Information on the castle in the Latvian National Cultural Monuments Database , accessed December 11, 2019.
  2. ↑ Cēsu Kultūras un Tūrisma centrs (ed.): Cēsis Castle. Cēsu Kultūras un Tūrisma centrs, Cēsis 2015, p. 7 ( digitized version ).
  3. ↑ Information from Nussberg in the database for national cultural monuments of Latvia , accessed on December 11, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b Armin Tuulse: The castles in Estonia and Latvia. 1942, p. 46.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Entry by Ieva Ose zu Burg Wenden in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
  6. ↑ a b c d e Sabine Bock: Große Burgenfahrt, Historisches Livland, September 8 to 15, 2012. 2012, p. 37.
  7. ↑ a b c Information about the castle at burgenwelt.org
  8. ^ Klaus Neitmann: Wenden C.5. (Cēsis). 2003 ( online ).
  9. ↑ a b c Armin Tuulse: The castles in Estonia and Latvia. 1942, p. 328.
  10. ^ Armin Tuulse: The castles in Estonia and Latvia. 1942, p. 190.
  11. ^ A b Karl von Löwis of Menar: The castles of Livonian Switzerland. Segewold, Treyden, Kremon and Wenden. 1895, p. 48.
  12. ^ Karl von Löwis of Menar: The castles of Livonian Switzerland. Segewold, Treyden, Kremon and Wenden. 1895, p. 47.
  13. ↑ a b Stephen Turnbull: Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (2). The stone castles of Latvia and Estonia 1185-1560 (= Fortress. Volume 19). Osprey Publishing, Oxford 2004, ISBN 1-84176-712-3 , p. 34.
  14. ↑ a b c d e f g h Gatis Pavils: Cesis medieval castle , accessed December 13, 2019.
  15. ↑ a b c d Detailed castle history by the historian Agris Dzenis , accessed on December 12, 2019.
  16. ↑ There are various details about the exact time of the donation, which vary between 1744 and December 1747.
  17. ↑ Information based on the history of the manor on the castle's website , accessed on December 29, 2019. Ieva Ose, however, states in her contribution to the EBIDAT that the manor was built in 1778. See Ieva Ose's entry on Wenden Castle in the “ EBIDAT ” scientific database of the European Castle Institute.
  18. ^ Heinrich von Hagemeister : Materials for a history of the country estates of Livonia. Volume 1. Frantzen, Riga 1836, p. 181 ( digitized version ).
  19. ↑ a b Cēsu Kultūras un Tūrisma centrs (ed.): Cēsis Castle. Cēsu Kultūras un Tūrisma centrs, Cēsis 2015, p. 4 ( digitized version ).
  20. ^ History of the manor on the castle website , accessed December 18, 2019.
  21. ^ Karl von Löwis of Menar: Burgenlexikon für Alt-Livland. Walters and Rapa, Riga 1922, p. 123 ( digitized version ).
  22. ↑ Information about the castle at burgen-im-ordensland.de , accessed on December 18, 2019.
  23. ^ Karl von Löwis of Menar: The castles of Livonian Switzerland. Segewold, Treyden, Kremon and Wenden. 1895, p. 51.
  24. ^ Armin Tuulse: The castles in Estonia and Latvia. 1942, p. 330.
  25. ↑ Gundars Kalniņš: Cēsu pils: ilustrētā vēsture. 2017, p. 62.
  26. ^ A b Karl von Löwis of Menar: The castles of Livonian Switzerland. Segewold, Treyden, Kremon and Wenden. 1895, p. 56.
  27. ^ Armin Tuulse: The castles in Estonia and Latvia. 1942, p. 189.

Coordinates: 57 ° 18 ′ 48.2 "  N , 25 ° 16 ′ 13.8"  E