Christian Friedrich Gustav von Berckheim
Baron Christian Friedrich Gustav von Berckheim , also Christian von Berckheim, (born October 15, 1817 in Colmar ; † November 21, 1889 in Meran -Obermais) was a Baden politician, diplomat of the Grand Duchy of Baden , lord of the palace in Weinheim and founder of the so-called exotic forest behind the Castle park in Weinheim. His various travels took him to America.
parents house
He was the eldest son from a wealthy family. His mother was Auguste von Stumm (born May 25, 1796 Mannheim , † December 1, 1876 Weinheim ). Their mother and grandmother was Friederike Auguste Schmalz (born September 15, 1765, † February 17, 1854), the sole heir of the Mannheim trading and banking house of the same name in Mannheim. This had the status of a house bank in the Electoral Palatinate. His grandfather was Christian Philipp Stumm (* May 30, 1760; † April 30, 1826), who founded the iron and steel industry in Saarland with his brothers, including the Dillinger ironworks .
His father Baron Christian Friedrich von Berckheim (born December 21, 1781 Schoppenwihr near Ostheim, Alsace ; † December 13, 1832 Strasbourg ) came from an old Alsatian aristocratic family. Due to the early death of his father, he became a half-orphan at the age of 15.
His mother Auguste had an older sister, Friederike von Stumm (1793–1829), who was married to a Count Theodor Waldner von Freundstein (1786–1864), also from an old Alsatian aristocratic family. This sister also died early in 1829. The widow Baroness Auguste von Berckheim later married her brother-in-law and widower Count Theodor Waldner von Freundstein and bought the property of the Weinheim Palace for her first-born son Baron Christian von Berckheim.
Christian Friedrich Gustav von Berckheim rests in the family mausoleum of the counts, in the Weinheim Castle Park, below the exotic forest he created. The burial chapel is the work of the sacred architect Ludwig Becker .
His influential relatives
His grandfather Frédéric von Berckheim (1732-1812) and his grandmother Marie Octavie Louise von Glaubitz (1750-1821) had numerous children.
- Louise Sophie Octavie de Berckheim (1771–1852) married Frederic von Stein zu Nordheim
- Henriette Sophie Luise de Berckheim (1772–1863) married Augustin-Charles Périer, a student of the École polytechnique in Paris with a doctorate in 1790, deputy from Isère (1830–1837), peer of France (1832) and knight of the Legion of Honor (1833). He came from an upper-class merchant family. The couple's descendants or relatives became presidents of the Bank of France, interior ministers and even presidents of the French Republic.
- Sigismond Frédéric de Berckheim (1775–1819) Imperial French General; married to Elisabeth Bartholdi
- Amélie de Berckheim (1776–1866)
- Friederike, called Fanny, de Berckheim (1778–1802) died early at the age of 23. She was engaged to Alexander Louis Baron de Landsberg, from her grandmother's family.
- Christian Friedrich de Berckheim (1781–1832), father of the lord of the Weinheim Palace , his second-born son Sigismond Guillaume de Berckheim (1819–1884) also became a French general
- Gustav de Berckheim (1784–1812) Imperial French Rittmeister
resume
Christian Friedrich Gustav von Berckheim became Baden's Minister of State and Grand Chamberlain at the court of the rapidly developing Grand Duchy of Baden with its new post-Napoleonic size and weighting. He was u. a. Skilful negotiator between his country Baden and Switzerland and significantly involved in the railway construction contract via Basel , on the territory of the Swiss Confederation. With the contract of July 27, 1852, the costly bypass of Basel could be bypassed and the new Baden state area around Freiburg along with the Lake Constance area opened up for the Baden railway. His son Siegesmund von Berckheim later had a decisive influence on the construction of the Badischer Bahnhof in the area of the city of Basel.
He was also z. For example, from 1853 to 1866 Baden was Minister-Resident or Envoy in Munich and in 1859 Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary of the Grand Duchy of Baden for a Concordat with the Holy See in Rome .
Baron Christian von Berckheim married Ida Wilhelmine Freiin Waldner von Freundstein (born June 17, 1824 Mannheim, † Munich January 15, 1907 Munich) into the family of his stepfather. Their son Siegmund Theodor Friedrich, Count of Berckheim (born March 23, 1851 Mannheim; † July 8, 1927 Weinheim) was the Baden envoy of the Grand Duchy of Baden in the capital of Berlin to the German Emperor. In 1900 he was made a count by Wilhelm II and received the castle ruins of Windeck near Weinheim from the Grand Duke of Baden as a gift as a gift for his services to Baden. His wife Adolphine Maria Huberta Gabriele Freiin Wambolt von Umstadt (born January 28, 1859 Darmstadt, † June 30, 1919 Egern, today Rottach-Egern ) was one of the most beautiful women in Berlin at the time of her husband in Berlin.
Baron Christian von Berckheim expanded the castle and park in Weinheim. In 1868, for example, he had the striking neo-Gothic castle tower built according to the specifications of the Blue Tower in Wimpfen . Also based on the castle tower that his stepfather had built on the Limburgerhof, the temporary summer residence of his family.
Today, his real life achievement is the establishment of the so-called exotic forest, unique in Europe, behind his castle grounds in Weinheim, a natural monument of a special kind. Not a simple park, but truly a forest. Here, not solitary trees, but rather exotic trees were planted in groups on an area of 60 hectares (600,000 m²). So you can z. B. admire about fifty sequoias standing together.
He also changed the design of the actual Weinheim Castle Park, which was originally designed as a French garden. Redesigned in the English style in the 18th century by the garden architect (Clarus) Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell . It was given its final shape in the 19th century by Countess Auguste Waldner von Freundstein and later by Baron Christian von Berckheim himself. In the park you will find magnificent ginkgos and Germany's oldest and most magnificent Lebanon cedar, bitter lemons, mulberry trees and much more, as well as his own Sohn built the mausoleum for the Berckheim aristocratic family.
literature
- Sources on the history of the German Confederation, Section III: 1850–1866, The German Confederation in the National Challenge, 1859–1862; Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH, 2012, ISBN 978-3-486-70927-8
- Acts on the history of the relationship between state and church, HugoKremer (Ritter von Auenrode) 1976, Church and state. 382 pages; Baden Government Gazette, year 1859, No. 60
- The agreement of the grand ducal government of Baden with the papal chair in 1859, ´Karlsruhe, G. Braun`sche Hofbuchdruckerei, 1859.
Web links
- 150 years of the Hochrheinbahn including a tribute to the Baden negotiator Christian Friedrich Gustav von Berckheim with a photo
- Castle tower (38m) from 1868 by Christian Friedrich Gustav von Berckheim (PDF file; 1.26 MB)
- History of the Limburgerhof
- Photo of the Limburgerhof tower
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Berckheim, Christian Friedrich Gustav von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Berckheim, Christian Friedrich Gustav Freiherr von; Berckheim, Christian |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Baden politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 15, 1817 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Colmar |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 21, 1889 |
| Place of death | Meran - Upper Maize |