Castel Sant'Angelo Recklinghausen
The Castel Sant'Angelo in Recklinghausen is a baroque , horseshoe-shaped residential building from the early 18th century. The Castel Sant'Angelo is located in the west of the old town of Recklinghausen and borders the Herzogswall with the only remaining part of the medieval city wall.
history
Residence of the judge Münch
The electoral Cologne governor and judge Clamor Constantin Münch had a residence built around 1701. The building consisted of a manor house and a free-standing farm wing to the east. In the corner of the wing stood a rectangular tower with a Welsch hood . The entrance to the two-story mansion was laid out in the middle of the eleven window axes. The symmetrical building shows elements of the Italian Renaissance with the arched portal flanked by pilasters and rosettes and a blown gable above it. The round arch itself bears the carved inscription “ANTE FORES PATRIS SUNT INSCULPTA SEQENTES SPARTA M NAN C T I HAN C A D ORANT” (“The sculpture released in front of the father's door adorns the successors after the inheritance has been obtained”). The highlighted letters MDCCI refer to the year of construction 1701.
In 1712 Münch bought part of the medieval city wall . He had the southern watchtower Stephansturm integrated into the west wing, which was built until 1715. The now three-wing complex enclosed a rectangular inner courtyard. A brick wall closed off Augustinessenstrasse in the south, the driveway was formed by a round arched portal made of sandstone with a stone cross with the inscription “In hoc signo vinces” (“Under this sign you will win”). Behind the manor house a garden stretched along the old city wall to the second watchtower.
Bissinghus and the administrative center of the Arenberg
When Clamor Constantin Münch died in 1751, his granddaughter, Catharina Biesten (née Münch) inherited the Castel Sant'Angelo. The Castel Sant'Angelo was named Bissinghus after her husband, Privy Councilor Biesten . In 1795, part of the government council, who had fled Bonn after the cannonade of Valmy, took up residence in the Castel Sant'Angelo. In 1802, Duke Ludwig-Engelbert von Arenberg set up his administrative headquarters in Castel Sant'Angelo. After the owner Catharina Biesten died on October 28, 1818, the heirs sold the property on May 27, 1819 for 3,300 Reichsthaler to the Duke's son, Prosper-Ludwig von Arenberg . A few months later he became a duke himself and had the upper floor of the west wing expanded into a ducal general domain inspection. From 1820 the family of the Arenberg administrator, the Hofkammerate Landschütz, lived in parts of the Castel Sant'Angelo; their last resident was the Hofkammerpräsident Ernst Russell, who moved out in 1895.
Castel Sant'Angelo Casino
The ducal administration also moved to Düsseldorf and the Castel Sant'Angelo was sold to the Engelsburg Society on March 26, 1904 . This casino company was founded by the citizens of Recklinghausen to enable cultural events and sporting activities for the upper class in Castel Sant'Angelo. The east wing and the rectangular tower of the mansion were demolished. A new building with a concert hall and a bowling alley was built in its place, and a tennis court was laid out in the garden.
From January 13, 1923, French troops occupied Castel Sant'Angelo as part of the Ruhr occupation . When they left on July 20, 1925, large parts of the interior were destroyed. In July 1939, the Vestische Archiv moved into the Stephansturm and parts of the west wing. In 1945 English occupiers confiscated Castel Sant'Angelo.
On July 10, 1948, the Recklinghausen Casino Company was founded as the successor to the Engelsburg Company, which was dissolved in 1945 . She organized readings by the Literary Society and the Klausener Association, lectures by the adult education center and the Association for Local and Local History as well as concerts. After some renovations, the municipal public library, the international institute Die Brücke and again the Vestische Archiv moved into the rooms of the Castel Sant'Angelo.
Hotel Castel Sant'Angelo
Around 1950 the casino company Recklinghausen was transferred to Engelsburg Haus- und Grundbesitz GmbH . The industrialists Kufus and Still from Recklinghausen and Schweisfurth from Herten planned to build a luxury hotel in Castel Sant'Angelo, the approval for this was given in 1952. In the 1950s, the buildings were then completely renovated. In 1973 the Parkhotel Die Engelsburg was opened. On November 24, 1982 the Castel Sant'Angelo was placed under monument protection.
In 1990 the city of Recklinghausen became the owner of the Castel Sant'Angelo and sold the building on July 5, 1993 to the Recklinghausen entrepreneur Theo Feldmann. The garden plot was sold to the Recklinghausen entrepreneur Hugo Ibing, who sold it on to Theo Feldmann in 1994.
He restored the Castel Sant'Angelo and built a hotel extension and condominiums in part of the park.
In January 1995 the Best Western Park Hotel Engelsburg was opened with a three-storey suite in the Stephansturm.
Interior decoration
The garden room with its baroque stucco ceiling and stone fireplace is significant, which is why it is also called the fireplace room. The fireplace is decorated with the Arenberg coat of arms with three golden medlar flowers on a red background. However, it is believed that he previously carried the coat of arms of the Electorate of Cologne. The listed fireplace room was on August 21, 2005 by Cardinal Camillo Ruini and Provost Heinrich Westhoff after the new Pope Benedict XVI. named and blessed.
Name Castel Sant'Angelo
The naming is not undisputed. Most likely it is derived from the Roman Castel Sant'Angelo . The area remained undeveloped after the city fire of 1500 and was called "In Rome". The original meaning (presumably simply “in space” or “framing” after the swampy ground) was forgotten and was referred to the city of Rome from the 17th century . The reference probably came from the Recklinghausen Petruskirche and its Roman equivalent, St. Peter's Basilica , which was closely connected to the Roman Castel Sant'Angelo. Another religious relationship existed between the Recklinghauser Engelsburg and the neighboring former Augustinian monastery and since the middle of the 18th century the so-called ducat procession led through the Castel Sant'Angelo.
literature
- Hans Röttger: 300 years Engelsburg Recklinghausen. (1701-2001). From the bourgeoisie to the luxury hotel. In: Vestischer Geschichts- und Heimatverein (Hrsg.): Vestischer Calendar. 73/2002. Recklinghausen, pp. 22-30.
- Walter Wissmann: Chronicle of the Castel Sant'Angelo. 1995 (Recklinghausen City Archives, Acc.-Nr. 95/862, signature F.2581)
- K. Gäertner, cultural office of the city of Recklinghausen (ed.): The Castel Sant'Angelo in Recklinghausen. For the opening of the Angelsburg German-English cultural center. 1948.
Coordinates: 51 ° 36 ′ 56.6 ″ N , 7 ° 11 ′ 40.6 ″ E