Mülenen castle ruins
| Mülenen and Letzi castle ruins | ||
|---|---|---|
 Letzimauer Mülenen |
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| Creation time : | 13th Century | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Gentry | |
| Place: | Reichenbach in the Kandertal | |
| Geographical location | 46 ° 38 '16.1 " N , 7 ° 41' 31.2" E | |
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The castle ruins Mülenen and the ruins of the associated Letzimauer (dam) date from the 13th century and are located in the municipality of Reichenbach in the Kandertal in the canton of Bern in Switzerland .
Location and description
The hamlet of Mülenen is located at the narrowest point of the entrance to the Kandertal and is of great importance as a strategically important point for the control of the entire valley. For better defense, the Suldbach was diverted and the course of the brook moved in front of the castle and the Letzi. The barrier wall was 1.45 meters wide at its base and between 3 and 5 meters high. Based on the wall thickness, a battlement and a parapet must have been present. A circular path on the south side made it possible for the guards to patrol. There was a berm on the north side , followed by the brook. Today's bypass road around Mülenen leads right through the Letzi.
Mülenen Castle stood in the middle of the complex. The castle hill was built in four phases. In the middle was the main building with a floor space of 10 by 19 meters, which was surrounded by an almost square wall (24 × 24 meters) and a water well .
history
The archaeological investigations prove that the visible remains of the wall today were not the oldest fortifications, but that there was a dam , probably made of wood, as early as the 2nd half of the 12th century . The construction of the barrier visible today must have been carried out under great time pressure using improvised wooden cladding found. In 1269 the place is mentioned for the first time as a property of the Barons von Kien .
From 1290 the barons of Wädenswil owned the castle and the Letzi. The gentlemen von Turn followed them as owners. In 1294 fighting took place in Mülenen in the feud between the von Wädenswil and the city of Bern . In 1330 Mülenen was given to creditors in Bern as pledge. However, the barons bought the property back in 1334 and sold it to Thuringia von Brandis around 1350 . In 1352 the city of Bern bought the town and castle Mülenen. Around 1400 Bern moved the seat of the bailiff to the Tellenburg and Mülenen Castle was abandoned. In the following years the facility was used as a quarry. In 1941 the Swiss Army set up the Mülenen barrier on almost the same site . During the construction of the bypass road, the Letzi was rediscovered in 1990. In 1992 the castle and Letzi were placed under monument protection. In 1995 the remains of the castle and the Letzi were preserved.
literature
- A. Schaetzle: Castle and town of Mülenen in the Bernese Oberland. Journal of Swiss Archaeology and Art History. Volume 4, Issue 1, 1942.
- Daniel Gutscher, Ebbe Nielsen: Reichenbach-Mülenen. Burg and Letzi. Archeology of Switzerland, Volume 16, Issue 2, Canton of Bern, 1993.
- Daniel Gutscher, Werner Wild: The last wall of Mülenen. Journal of the Swiss Castle Association. Volume 1, Issue 4, 1996.
- Werner Wild: Reichenbach, Burg and Letzi Mülenen. The rescue excavations from 1941 and 1990–1996. Series of publications by the Education Directorate of the Canton of Bern, published by the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern, Bern 1997, ISBN 3-258-05661-7 , 136 pages.
- Marc Nussbaumer: Reichenbach, Burg and Letzi Mülenen. Excavations 1991/1992 and 1995. Archeology Bern 2009.
- Thomas Kühtreiber : Street and Castle. Notes on a complex relationship , p. 289ff. In: Kornelia Holzner-Tobisch, Thomas Kühtreiber, Gertrud Blaschitz (eds.): The complexity of the street. Continuity and change in the Middle Ages and early modern times , publications by the Institute for Reality Studies of the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times 22, Vienna 2012, pp. 263–301.
