Stargard Castle (Burg)
| Stargard Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 Amtreiterhaus (left), castle chapel and New Gate (center), mint (right) |
||
| Creation time : | around 1100 to 1200 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Received or received substantial parts | |
| Standing position : | Princes | |
| Place: | Stargard Castle | |
| Geographical location | 53 ° 29 '33 " N , 13 ° 18' 18" E | |
|
||
The Burg Stargard is one of the few hilltop castles in the North German Plain . The castle, which is about 90 meters high, and the town of the same name, Burg Stargard , at its feet, are located south of Neubrandenburg in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania . The complex consists of a bailey and a main castle with eleven remaining buildings and, with the keep as a landmark, shapes the appearance of the city. Stargard Castle is one of the most important secular buildings in the country.
history
Already before 3000 BC The castle hill was inhabited. When Slavic tribes reached the area during the Great Migration , they found the remains of an earlier fortification or settlement on the castle hill and therefore called the place Stari Gard (old castle).
From the 12th century the area was conquered and settled by Christian princes . As a result, the area of today's Stargard came to the Duke Wartislaw III. of Pomerania (-Demmin), who gave the Stargard rule in the Treaty of Kremmen 1236 to the Ascanian margraves Johann I and Otto III. left by Brandenburg . To secure their northernmost parts of the country, the Brandenburgers had Stargard Castle built from 1236. The place Stargard received 1259 by the margrave Otto III. the city law . Through the marriage of the margrave's daughter Beatrix of Brandenburg with Prince Heinrich II of Mecklenburg , the rule of Stargard with town and castle came into the hands of the Mecklenburgers as Wittum in 1292 .
With the division of the country in 1352, Stargard Castle became the residence of Duke Johann I of Mecklenburg-Stargard . After the Stargard line had died out, the (partial) duchy of Mecklenburg-Stargard fell back to the entire Mecklenburg House in 1471 . Duke Albrecht VI. zu Mecklenburg had the castle considerably rebuilt and expanded in 1520, for example the castle chapel was set up in the former gate building.
During the Thirty Years' War the castle was the headquarters of General Tilly during the siege and storming of Neubrandenburg in 1631 . During this time the castle was badly damaged. In 1646 the keep was struck by lightning and burned down.
Castle Stargard remained the seat of a ducal Mecklenburg administrative office even after the establishment of the (partial) duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1701. For centuries the castle served as the official residence and residence of officials, governors and drosten . In 1726, the last witch trial in Mecklenburg took place at Stargard Castle .
The painter Mathilde Block worked here as an educator for four and a half years in the early 1870s. She probably looked after the children of the governor August von Fabrice (1821-1893), who had lived in the Krumme Haus since 1856.
After the Second World War , the castle was used as a state youth school until 1963 and as a youth hostel until 1990 . After the youth hostel was closed, an extensive restoration of the entire castle complex began in 1990. Furthermore, a castle museum was set up, which is looked after by the Diakonische Werkstätten Neubrandenburg. In addition, cultural events are held at the castle and bridal couples are married.
investment
Stargard Castle is divided into an outer and main castle with a total of eleven buildings. The main castle has an approximately oval floor plan and is surrounded by a moat with the outer bailey to the east, which houses the official equestrian house. The keep is the symbol of the city. The great importance of the castle is shown by the fact that all buildings were built as brick buildings.
The castle Stargard and the castle garden can be visited. There is a fee to visit the museum and climb the keep.
Keep
The keep was built around 1245 on a foundation made of broken boulders . In the lower area, the walls are over four meters thick and 27 meters in circumference. The entrance is nine meters above the ground and was originally accessed via a covered wooden staircase. The tower dungeon turn lies 13 meters below the entrance, well below the courtyard pavement. There were once three tower rooms above the dungeon.
The tower burned down in 1647 after a lightning strike. Grand Duke Georg zu Mecklenburg-Strelitz had Friedrich Wilhelm Buttel convert the keep from 1821 to 1823 into a lookout tower. Including the nine-meter-high spire, the keep is 38 meters high. When visibility is good, it offers a 30-kilometer panoramic view of the Woldegk mills . In 1966 the tower was renovated.
Crooked house
On December 18, 1919, the so-called Crooked House burned to the ground by arson; it is a ruin to this day .
Upper gate (castle chapel)
The castle chapel was built between 1240 and 1250 as a three- story gatehouse . The gate was embedded in the walls of the castle, but protrudes clearly from them. From 1280 a castle chapel was set up on the upper floor of the gate. It was not until 1520 that the drawbridge was removed, the passage and the middle window were connected and walled up, and the building was converted into a double chapel. Sixty years later the chapel was extended to the courtyard side. In the 17th century it served as a carriage shed and barn. After a major fire in the town, the building was used spiritually as a town church between 1758 and 1770. After this time it was again a storage room.
The building has an ogival window in the middle with two arched side windows. The gable shows stone framework from the 18th century. The side pilaster strips and the black glazed round arch friezes have been preserved from the former gate .
Lower gate
The lower gate was built around 1250 as a two-story brick building that housed a chapel on the upper floor. In the 16th century the gate was reinforced and rebuilt in the 17th century. It has been partially destroyed since 1755, today only the facade is preserved. The gable is encircled by a round arch and once consisted of a staggered group of three windows, which is now blocked. On the side of the bridge, as on the upper gate, there are pilaster strips and round arch friezes with black glaze. The former rocker bridge was replaced by a stone dam in the 16th century.
Inn
The building was erected in the 13th century, the outer wall of which was also part of the circular wall of the main castle, which supported the battlement . From 1938 to 1944 the restaurant "Zur Alten Münze" was housed there, after which a youth hostel moved in. After extensive renovation, the building was reopened as a hotel and restaurant in 1999.
literature
- Axel Heller, Mara Maroske: Monuments in Mecklenburg-Strelitz . Verlag Steffen, Friedland 2005, pp. 22-28, ISBN 978-3937669328
