Sulzberg castle ruins

Sulzberg castle ruins
Alternative name (s):	Castle "Sigmundsruh"
Creation time :	around 1170
Castle type :	Höhenburg, hillside location
Conservation status:	Received or received substantial parts
Place:	Sulzberg (Oberallgäu)
Geographical location	47 ° 39 '14.4 "  N , 10 ° 20' 39.6"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 39 '14.4 "  N , 10 ° 20' 39.6"  E
Height:	779  m above sea level NN

The castle ruin Sulzberg is a medieval castle ruin in the Oberallgäu district in Swabia . The facility is located about 500 meters southwest of the village of Sulzberg and was originally the seat of the Lords of Sulzberg and later of the Lords of Schellenberg .

history

Lords of Sulzberg

The Sulzberg family is mentioned for the first time in 1176 and the construction of the castle complex is assumed to be around 1170. The lords of "Sulciberch" were in the service of the Kempten Abbey and are among the most influential noble families in the Allgäu.

Around 1240, a branch of the Sulzberg family established itself in the Lake Constance area and also founded a castle there - Sulzberg Castle in Goldach near Rorschach .

Lords of Schellenberg

In 1359 the male line of the Sulzberger died out. The castle fell into the possession of the related Schellenbergs until 1525 . At that time these belonged to the most important aristocratic families in southern Germany with extensive possessions in the Allgäu, Vorarlberg and the Upper Rhine area.

From 1480 to 1485, Marquard von Schellenberg expanded the castle and named it "Sigmundsruh Castle" in honor of his employer Archduke Sigismund of Austria .

In 1525 "a few thousand" rebels allegedly holed up on the nearby coal mountain during the Peasants' War . It is possible that Sulzberg Castle was looted at that time, as the farmers are said to have supplied themselves with powder at the Wagegg, Rettenberg and Sulzberg castles. However, no evidence of a conquest can be found in the sources. However, layers of fire and leveling in the castle area indicate extensive destruction.

Prince Abbey of Kempten

Friedrich von Freyberg-Eisenberg received the castle in 1525, but sold it to the Prince Abbot of Kempten the following year . The sale is likely to be at least partially due to the destruction of the Peasants' War.

Prince Abbot Sebastian von Breitenstein was able to use the funds that he had only recently received from the imperial city of Kempten for the purchase . The imperial city acquired all the rights of the monastery in its territory through the so-called "Great Purchase". The Sulzbergers, however, retained the patronage rights of the parish churches in Sulzberg, Heimenkirch, Mosbach and Ried.

The fortress served from then until its abandonment as the official residence of the nursing office Wolkenstein Sulzberg. Damage occurred again during the Thirty Years War . In 1648 the last habitable rooms were cleared out. In an "inventory" drawn up on August 7, 1648, almost all objects were documented that were still in the castle at that time. The prince abbot even went to Sulzberg personally to take some pieces for himself. Four silver spoons in a mahogany box are named as the most valuable inventory. The good equipment of the castle kitchen with spices such as pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and yellow sugar candy was remarkable.

The task of the castle is certainly related to the tight financial situation of the monastery. As a hunting and summer residence, the prince abbot, along with several other castles, had the Wagegg Castle, renovated in 1642 , which was much more comfortably furnished than the old hilltop castle on the edge of the Alps. The planned construction of the abbot's residence in Kempten and the collegiate and parish church of St. Lorenz forced austerity measures.

The abandoned castle then served the local population as a welcome quarry. Interest is mentioned for the last time in 1729, which “went to fiefdom from Schloss and Berg Sulzberg”.

Redevelopment

In 1953 the first restoration work was carried out on the keep . A small ski jumping hill attached to the east wall was removed and some large outbreaks walled up at the southern base of the tower.

In 1984 some committed homeland friends founded the “Verein der Burgfreunde Sulzberg” because of the desolate condition of the ruins and began to renovate the complex under its chairman Willy Bechteler. The "Burgfreunde" were supported and advised by the "Allgäuer Burgenverein".

This early work was carried out without scientific support by the State Office for Monument Preservation or academic building researchers. Today they are regarded by experts as typical examples of the “wave of castle renovation” of the 1970s and 1980s. In the literature, the castle is sometimes referred to together with the Middle Franconian Treuchtlingen Castle and the nearby Laubenbergerstein Castle as a model case of a failed castle renovation. However, without the intervention of the community and the association, large losses of substance would have occurred, which would have significantly changed the silhouette of the ruin.

Thanks to the involvement of Peter Pfister (excavation technician at Stadtarchäologie Kempten), extensive archaeological investigations could be carried out in the main castle area in 1991/92, the results of which were published in 1995 (Behrer: Burg Sulzberg ). Since then, the - not yet completed - remedial measures have been scientifically monitored. Numerous original finds are exhibited in the small castle museum in the 24 meter high keep. The museum is open in the afternoon on Sunday and public holidays. The viewing platform on the tower, which offers a good view of the northern Oberallgäu, is also accessible at these times .

description

View from the southeast

The east side of the main castle

The renovated keep

The residential tower of the high medieval castle (right)

Construction age plan on the information board in the neck ditch

The hilltop castle is located about 500 meters southwest of Sulzberg on a wooded 779  m above sea level. NN high sandstone hill . Most of the building material was dismantled on site or comes from the surrounding area. The farm located south below the ruins goes back to the former farm or building yard of the fortress .

The high medieval castle is surrounded by the remains of the curtain wall or kennel from the late Middle Ages . The southern part of the kennel has been best preserved. Most of the wall remains, however, have not yet been renovated. The external fortifications were reinforced by four round artillery towers. A smaller, rectangular shell tower also jumps out of the southern enclosure wall.

In the west of the main castle there is a small outer castle , the low surrounding wall of which has been largely renewed. The original Burgweg moved from the northeast around the Vorwerk. A bridge spanned the deep ditch in front of the main castle. Today the southern area of ​​the trench is largely buried, so that you can enter the kennel area of ​​the main castle directly.

In the north, the mighty, square keep protected the gate. The crowning is only preserved in its original form on the west side. The other wall surfaces were bricked up again in the course of the renovation measures. Due to the extensive changes made by the castle association, structural historical investigations of the tower are only possible to a very limited extent. The original high entrance was on the east side.

A steep ramp takes you up to the small courtyard. Since the renovation, a gate has blocked access to the small castle museum in the keep outside of opening times. The romanticizing wooden gate construction also dates from this period. In the north, the remains of the palace border the courtyard. This component was created together with the keep around 1300, when the castle was expanded to the west.

You enter the oldest area in the east of the main castle through a modern wooden gate. The renovated west gable of the main building is still around 14 meters high. In the north you can see the west wall of the original residential tower of the high medieval castle complex. This first small original castle was secured by a four meter deep neck ditch, which was filled in when it was expanded around 1300. The semicircular tower stump at the east end of the main castle could have housed the castle chapel . At the end of the 15th century, the eastern part of the fortress was modernized and the complex was expanded to form “Sigmundsruh Castle”.

The restoration of the large castle ruins is often criticized in professional circles as being too rustic. Numerous additions and linings can be differentiated from the original stock by plaster tapes. During the first renovation measures from 1984 to 1990, important original findings were removed without documentation. From 1990 experts supported and advised the community and the castle association. The area of ​​the high medieval core castle was still untouched at that time, so that extensive archaeological investigations could be carried out here in 1991/92 .

Today the ruin is one of the best researched and documented medieval castles in the region. Despite the somewhat unfortunate renovation measures that were initially carried out, one of the most important architectural monuments in the Allgäu has been secured in its long-term existence thanks to the commitment of numerous volunteers. Before the start of the renovation, the gable wall behind the keep was in acute danger of substance.

Construction phases

The system was essentially built in six sections. From the first half of the 12th century a small tower castle with a ring wall, neck ditch and bridge was built in the east of the Sandstone Council, which was expanded again during the 12th century.

In the 13th century, the old curtain wall was torn down, the residential tower was increased and a high shield wall was built over the main gate.

Around 1300 the castle was extended to the west. A mighty keep secured the gate area. In addition, a new hall, a cistern and the new main gate were built.

Around 1480–85, the hill fort was expanded to include kennels with rondelles. To the west a wide ditch protected the main castle. A triangular forework was laid in front of the ditch as gate security. The south of the main castle was additionally secured by a low, square tower.

In the middle of the 16th century the large castle was rebuilt again. After the extensive destruction during the Thirty Years War, the fortress was finally abandoned in 1648.

A late Gothic winged altar (around 1490) has been preserved in the medieval parish church in the nearby village of Sulzberg.

literature

• Christian Behrer (ed.): Sulzberg Castle. From the tower castle to the hunting lodge . Brack, Altusried 1995, ISBN 3-930323-02-8 .
• Harald Derschka : Die Ministeriale des Hochstiftes Konstanz ( Konstanz Working Group for Medieval History: Lectures and Research ; Special Volume 45). Thorbecke, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-7995-6755-0 , pp. 73-81.
• Walter Müller: The gentlemen from Sulzberg in the Allgäu and on Lake Constance. Donation of the Kempten monastery and service men of the Konstanz monastery , in: Writings of the Association for the History of Lake Constance and its Surroundings , 76th year 1958, pp. 63–92 ( digitized version )
• Toni Nessler: Castles in the Allgäu, Volume 1: Castle ruins in the Altlandkreis Kempten and Altlandkreis Sonthofen . 1st edition. Allgäuer Zeitungsverlag, Kempten 1985, ISBN 3-88006-102-5 , pp. 122-137.

Web links

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

• Burgfreunde Sulzberg e. V.
• Sulzberg Castle (Allgäu Castle Region)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Sulzberg castle ruins (Sigmundsruh castle ruins) on burgenreich.de
2. ↑ The Sulzberg castle ruins
3. ↑ From the history of Sulzberg Castle
4. ↑ Sulzberg castle ruins on the Sulzberg market website