Hohenberneck castle ruins

Hohenberneck castle ruins
The entrance to the Palas
Alternative name (s):	Neuwallenrode, Upper Castle
Creation time :	from 1478
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	ruin
Standing position :	Ministeriale
Construction:	Diabase rubble masonry
Place:	Bad Berneck
Geographical location	50 ° 3 '10.9 "  N , 11 ° 40' 34.7"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 3 '10.9 "  N , 11 ° 40' 34.7"  E

The castle ruins Hohenberneck even Neuwallenrode or Upper Castle called, is in a late gothic built style office castle of the late Middle Ages . The ruins of the Höhenburg are located on the Schlossberg of Bad Berneck in the Upper Franconian district of Bayreuth in Bavaria . It is currently closed and will likely be open to the public again in early 2021.

The ruin is located near the Altes Schloss castle ruins and the Alt-Berneck tower castle at the exit of the spa park in the upper town of Bad Berneck.

history

In 1478 Veit was of Wallenrode with the Postal former Walpotenburg to build, which was built on this site before the 1168th by Ulrich II Walpot, provided there is a castle, fief . At that time Veit was bailiff in the old castle, which is located directly below the Hohenberneck. The old castle had been pledged to Wallenrode since 1406, the repurchase took place right before the loan in 1477, so that Veit von Wallenrode had the necessary means to build castles.

Veit von Wallenrode did not see the completion of Neuwallenrode Castle, as it was called at the time, because he died in 1499. His daughters sold the unfinished castle to the bailiff von Stein, Albrecht von Wirsberg. He completed the castle and sold it to Margrave Friedrich II of Brandenburg-Kulmbach in 1501 . The first bailiff on Hohenberneck, as the castle was now called, is documented in 1502. The official seat was moved from the old castle to the new castle. However, the role of the castle as the official seat only lasted for a short time, because in 1557 the office was incorporated into the caste office and officials at the castle no longer appeared.

From 1557 to 1736 the von Wallenrode were enfeoffed with the castle, which was no longer required ex officio. With Karl Friedrich von Wallenrode, the last feudal bearer, the Franconian line of those from Wallenrode died out.

In 1737 the margrave bought the castle back. In a drawing dated around 1740, the castle can already be seen without a roof. The relocation of the old road via imperii from the Schlossberg to the newly constructed route through the Knodental probably played a role. In the former town museum of Bad Berneck, a property card dating from 1751 shows both the old route over the Schlossberg and the new route in parallel. The cartographer Johann Christoph Stierlein completed a very precise map of the castle area for the first time in 1816 with the existing inventory.

Building stock

View into the interior of the cannon tower with sinkholes

The only known historical information about the building stock of the castle is evidence that a tube well was placed on top of the castle in 1506 . So the castle had running water.

The castle was protected by two moats in the north - the attack side . A half-shell tower was located directly on Altstrasse as an additional defense facility . This had the advantage of not providing the enemy with a base even if it was captured, as it was open on the castle side. On the south side, in the direction of the city, a drawbridge led over the small neck ditch . The Lady Chapel below the castle, the former castle chapel, was included in this defense system.

The drawbridge itself clearly shows the late Gothic style of the castle. The coat of arms of Wallenrode attached above refers to the beginning of the Renaissance . In a chain slot of the drawbridge you can still see the pulley of the drawbridge chains or ropes. In the three-pass windows of the building, which were used as loopholes, holes were made to accommodate the bouncing wood that absorbed the recoil of the hook- boxes used at the time .

In the east a tower is integrated into the curtain wall . The two round bastions on the sides of this tower are not remnants of former towers, as the transitions to the castle wall show. The mighty cannon tower in the northwest, also popularly known as the hunger tower, never served as a tower dungeon, but was designed as a defensive structure up to the base of the wall. The individual floors are clearly visible. The sinkholes that are also located in the Bering are remarkable. Through this notch shape the base of the wall could be coated with firearms.

The dominant building of the castle was the palas or residential building. The uneven arrangement of the window and door openings, which corresponded to the medieval taste, is remarkable. The relative comfort of a castle from the late Middle Ages is shown by the remains of the grand dungeon above the entrance on the south side. In the hall itself there are a noticeable number of niches in the masonry. These were mostly used as "built-in cupboards" or shelves. Throughout the castle it can be clearly seen how the wall thickness was already taken into account in the construction phase for the later interior design. Even the pouring stone in the east is set into the wall. There was probably a stove below the sink. Two openings in the wall on the ground floor are probably to be interpreted as former chimneys. The entrances to the manorial area were on the first floor.

The Hohenberneck is a very late castle, as the castle building period is considered to have ended in the middle of the 15th century. The building has not yet been scientifically investigated.

Preservation of the castle

The castle is badly ruined. In 2012, building research was carried out to determine the further measures. Part of the outer ring was renovated in 2017. Since security is no longer guaranteed on the ruins and visitors often climb the walls of the castle, the castle unfortunately had to be closed to the public. The renovation of the castle is planned for 2020. The ruins will then be freely accessible again.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://www.nordbayerischer-kurier.de/inhalt.gefaehrliche-ruine-hohenberneck-fuer-besucher-gesperr.2e399793-d664-43f5-9a91-782496b7aa0a.html

literature

• Gustav Schmidt: Former castles around Bad Berneck . In: Local supplement to the Upper Franconian school gazette . Government of Upper Franconia, Bayreuth 2002.
• Hans Vollet, Kathrin Heckel: The ruins drawings of the Plassenburg cartographer Johann Christoph Stierlein . Kulmbach 1987.
• Otto Schoerrig: Bad Berneck and its surroundings . R. Teichmann, Bad Berneck 1983.
• August Gebeßler : City and District of Bayreuth . The Art Monuments of Bavaria , Brief Inventories , VI. Band . Deutscher Kunstverlag , Munich 1959, pp. 89–92.
• Hellmut Kunstmann : Castles in Upper Franconia, ownership, building history and fates. Part 2: The castles of the noble families in the Obermaing area . Verlag EC Baumann, Kulmbach 1955, pp. 49-79.
• Johann Theodor Benjamin Helfrecht : ruins, antiquities and still standing castles on and on the Fichtelgebirge . Gottfried Adolph Grau, Hof 1795 ( online ).
• Johann Gottlieb Hentze: Berneck, a historical attempt . Johann Andreas Lüneck's heirs, Bayreuth 1790 ( online ).

Web links

• House of Bavarian History - Castles in Bavaria - Hohenberneck Castle ruins