Windeck Castle (Weinheim)

Windeck Castle
Windeck Castle
Creation time :	around 1130
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Place:	Weinheim
Geographical location	49 ° 32 '46 "  N , 8 ° 40' 38"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 32 '46 "  N , 8 ° 40' 38"  E
Height:	220.5  m above sea level NN

The Windeck Castle is the ruins of a hilltop castle on the Castle Hill (220.5 m above sea level. NN) in Weinheim in the Rhine-Neckar region in Baden-Württemberg .

View from the shield wall north to the keep

location

Windeck Castle, which is now only preserved as a ruin, is a popular excursion destination that can be reached both by car and via a footpath from Weinheim. The ascent takes about half an hour for the inexperienced and then continues over the Wachenburg into the mountain landscape of the Neckartal-Odenwald nature park .

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Weinheim panorama at the entrance to the castle garden with a view of Windeck Castle and the Wachenburg in the background.

history

The previous castle was built around 1110 to protect the possessions of the Lorsch Monastery . Since the Schlossberg belonged to the Michelstadt Propstei, the castle was destroyed for the first time in 1114. The castle, which was built on the remains of the previous building between 1125 and 1130, became the bone of contention between the Archbishop of Mainz and the Electoral Palatinate , who were to share the monastery property , with the end of the Lorsch monastery in 1232 . Windeck first came to the Palatinate, but was then subject to several changes between the Archdiocese of Mainz and the Count Palatine before they finally came into possession of the castle in 1264 (according to other information, 1344). The castle was not a feudal property of a noble family, but only secured and administered by castle men. The places Oberflockenbach, Steinklingen, Wünschmichelbach, Heiligkreuz, Rittenweier, Rippenweier (today all districts of Weinheim ) and the garbage were obliged to maintain the castle and the crew.

On the Merian engraving from 1620 (published in 1645) the castle is still intact and survived the turmoil of the Thirty Years War to a fair degree , but had to be repaired in 1663.

The end of the castle came in 1674 when it was sacked and destroyed by the French under General Turenne . The troops of the French King Louis XIV made the castle unusable as a defense system. It was subsequently considered uninhabitable. The ruins now served the Weinheim citizens as a quarry for the reconstruction of their houses.

In 1803, Windeck Castle became the property of the Baden state, which sold it in 1900 to the Count and Barons of Berckheim (who already owned the castle in Weinheim ). Count von Berckheim had the masonry secured and partially restored. The castle has been owned by the city of Weinheim since 1978, which has since implemented extensive security measures.

description

Hardly anything has survived from the 12th century complex. The ruin is (most parts probably from the 14th century), a compact building with gatehouse , the keep , probably also from the 14th century (the elder dungeon is centered in the plant suspected), a former palace and a courtyard where there is a beer garden in summer.

Keep

The 28 meter high keep can be climbed via 111 steps as a lookout tower . From the castle courtyard near the fountain, three stairs with a total of 50 steps lead first to a terrace, from there to the battlements on the eastern shield wall and finally to the tower. Inside there are two offset spiral staircases with 20 and 41 steps up to the viewing platform . The location of the upper spiral staircase can be seen from the outside on the south-western side of the tower. To the right of the exit onto the platform, a wide gap in the masonry forms an approx. 1.10 meter high parapet and enables a view to the south. In the still preserved higher masonry there are rectangular windows in four niches. At the highest part of the tower, which has a diameter of 6.20 meters at the top, a high flagpole is attached on the northwest side.

From the top of the keep you have a beautiful view of the Wachenburg , the city of Weinheim, the Bergstrasse and the Rhine Valley . On a clear day, the view extends to the Palatinate Forest and Donnersberg .

In the floor of the keep is the fear hole , the entrance to the eleven meter deep dungeon .

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All-round view from the keep

literature

• Thomas Biller: Castles and Palaces in the Odenwald - A guide to history and architecture . 1st edition. Schnell und Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2005, ISBN 3-7954-1711-2 , pp. 83-86.
• Christoph Bühler: Castles of the Electoral Palatinate. Bergstrasse and Neckar Valley . Heidelberger Verlagsanstalt, Heidelberg 1990, ISBN 3-89426-012-2 , p. 29 ff.
• Walter Hotz : Castles of the Hohenstaufen period in the Odenwald area . In: Winfried Wackerfuß (Ed.): Contributions to the exploration of the Odenwald and its peripheral landscapes II. Festschrift for Hans H. Weber . Breuberg-Bund , Breuberg-Neustadt 1977, pp. 155-168, especially pp. 156-158.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

1. ^ Burgruine Windeck on the website Stadt- und Tourismusmarketing Weinheim eV
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Information based on our own exploration and measurement