Runding castle ruins

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Runding castle ruins
Runding1.jpg
Creation time : First mentioned in 1118
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: ruin
Standing position : Ministeriale
Place: Rounding
Geographical location 49 ° 13 '3.7 "  N , 12 ° 45' 45"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 13 '3.7 "  N , 12 ° 45' 45"  E
Height: 543  m above sea level NN
Runding castle ruins (Bavaria)
Runding castle ruins

The castle Runding is the ruins of a hilltop castle on the so-called "Castle Hill" at 543  m above sea level. NN above the municipality of Runding in the Upper Palatinate district of Cham in Bavaria . From the hilltop castle you can find the sad but still imposing remains of what was once the largest castle complex in the Bavarian Forest with a total built-up area of ​​approx. 15,000 m² including the outer bailey with a nursing home and grain box. The walkable wall is almost 400 m long.

history

The founding family of the Runtinger (Roumptinger) was in the service of the Margraves of Cham and Vohburg and was first mentioned in a document in 1118. The castle itself is likely to have been built by them before 1100. Although the Runtingers were initially just simple servants ( ministerials ) of their counts, they knew how to expand their rule. Until 1413/1415 they can be found on Runding without gaps, but then their sex dries up - due to a lack of progeny.

Heinrich Notthphia, the Vicedom (left administrator) of the Duke of Lower Bavaria ( Straubing-Holland ), knew how to completely take possession of the lordship and castle of Runding through enfeoffment and purchase in 1415. For more than 400 years - with almost 70 years of interruption by the Eyb dynasty during the Reformation  - the highly respected and at times very rich noble family of the Notthracht determined the fortunes of the castle and the associated villages. The Notthracht built in the 15./16. In the 19th century, the sober castle was transformed into a magnificent "fortress", a vast palace complex.

Unfortunate times were the Hussite incursions around 1430 and the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War. Twice - in 1633 and 1641 - the mighty castle and the surrounding villages were mercilessly plundered by the Swedes. The damage suffered in the process amounted to 160,000 guilders, an enormous sum at the time.

Runding Palace after an engraving by Michael Wening from 1721

Donations and foundations, as well as the general loss of privileges of the nobility, increasingly diminished the funds available for emergency detention. The numerous, never refunded loans to the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty did the rest.

Almost inevitably, in 1829, there was a complete economic collapse. The Bavarian state had to buy the castle and the extensive Runding rule for 233,000 guilders from the debtors. Shortly afterwards he sold the entire Rundinger property to the court banker Hirsch from Munich. He did not take care of the buildings, so they gradually fell into disrepair. In 1858 he sold the Schloßberg together with the badly damaged castle to a farmer from Runding. "Since only a few rooms of the castle were habitable and the owner received so little rent that he couldn't even pay the house tax with them, he took off the roofs, sold them and the enormous oak roof beams and granite door and window frames." left the walls to their fate. Anyone who needed building blocks in Runding could get them from the castle, ”reports a local researcher. Because the state did not intervene, the fate of the once proud castle was finally sealed. Even private attempts at reconstruction in the 1920s tended to accelerate decay rather than produce positive results.

Wind, weather and the overgrown vegetation from 1940 onwards increasingly affected the masonry. The decay was only stopped in 1992 by the conservation measures of the municipality of Runding. According to a concept by the architect Rosenbaum from Amberg, the existing remains of the ruins have since been repaired and preserved for posterity with funds from public grant providers.

and display information about the image
Winter panorama picture of the castle ruins from the far left, the rest of the keep over the Kapellberg to the half-shell towers in the south corner (January 2017) ⊙

Burgfreunde Runding e. V.

In 1996 an association Burgfreunde Runding e. V. with chairman Franz Amberger, the son of the former castle owner. The teacher Ludwig Biebl was elected second chairman. Within a very short time the association had over 300 members. The efforts to preserve the remains of the castle received new support from the population. The great interest shows in the lively visitors from Runding, from tourists and from the entire region.

In 1997 the association uncovered the remains of two towers in the eastern part of the castle and conserved them by a company on behalf of the Runding municipality. This gave the public another decorative corner point of the formerly large castle complex. The most important wall remains of the ruin were secured in four construction phases. A new concept for the preservation and further use of the ruins was developed by the association, the architect Rosenbaum and the municipality of Runding for the years to come. The clearing measures by the owner Josef Amberger and the association also improved the view of the castle hill.

In 1998 the aforementioned association published a book entitled Unter dem Dohlenturm about the Runding castle ruins. In addition to a novel by Mrs. Karoline Wilhelmine von Künsberg (a historical novel about the castle from the last century) there are some legends, the families of the castle, a treatise on the decline of the castle by Ludwig Biebl, old views and collected by Franz Amberger Pictures, a bibliography by the Cham archivist Timo Bullemer and a site plan of the castle around 1750.

In 1997 and 1998 a knight's play and a play (Parzival) were staged on the castle grounds under the direction of the Runding school. With the help of the Burgfreunde Runding e. V. further parts of the complex were exposed and secured. In 1999, 2000, 2002, and from 2003 to 2011, scientific excavations were and are being carried out as part of a job creation measure under the direction of the medieval archaeologist Dr. Bernhard Ernst from Bamberg. The last measure with a bricklayer and several workers is under the direction of the medieval archaeologist Dr. Bernhard Ernst and with financial support from the European leader program. In 2010 the castle chapel was uncovered and examined. Human bones, parts of a lower leg and thigh, were found under the chancel in the rock. These are probably relics from the chapel.

When the work is complete, Runding will be the largest fully exposed castle complex in Bavaria. An archaeological open-air museum with a cultural-historical educational trail will be designed by 2012 with co-financing from the European leader project. From the finds (around 300,000 individual finds so far) an archaeological museum is to be built in the outer bailey in the medium term. The association is currently looking for an investor for this purpose. A selection of finds are currently on display in the old village church next to the Kopp brewery restaurant. The church is open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. The community has since joined the purpose agreement of the museums in the district of Cham. When setting up the museum, the experts from the Cham district advise the community. The open-air museum on the castle ruins and the archaeological museum in the village would then be a big attraction for the place and the entire region.

  • The basement of the nursing home in the outer bailey

  • The remains of the gates and the palace

  • View over the northeast wing with the fountain house to the hall

  • View from the main hall over the entire northeast wing

  • The stable and the forge on the northeast side of the Kapellenberg

  • View from Kapellenberg to the two half-shell towers in the south corner

  • Foundations of the medieval residential tower (?) On the chapel hill and the oven at the half-shell towers in the south corner

  • View over the southwest wing to the rest of the keep at the northwest corner

literature

Web links

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