Eschweiler Castle

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Eschweiler Castle
Southeast tower of Eschweiler Castle

Southeast tower of Eschweiler Castle

Creation time : around 1300 to 1400
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: Wall remains
Construction: Quarry stone , brick
Place: Eschweiler
Geographical location 50 ° 49 '4.8 "  N , 6 ° 15' 52.6"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 49 '4.8 "  N , 6 ° 15' 52.6"  E
Eschweiler Castle (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Eschweiler Castle
Northeast tower
South tower
Model of Eschweiler Castle in the 14th century. Today's streets and three remaining towers are marked in red.

The Burg Eschweiler , including Eschweiler Burg called, is a former moated castle in the center of Eschweiler in the Rhineland in today Dechant-Deckers Street. Only three round towers , which have been under monument protection since 1992 , have survived , as the castle area was built over in 1967 with modern hospital buildings from St. Antonius Hospital .

Residents and owners

Before Eschweiler Castle was built , there was already a building on the site that served as the official residence of the mayor appointed by the Cologne Cathedral Chapter . The first mayor mentioned in a document was Wilhelm von Eschweiler in 1145.

In 1429 Eschweiler Castle was owned by the Jülich Hereditary Marshal Frambach von Birgel. In 1572 the feudal relationship between the Eschweiler Castle and the Duchy of Jülich expired , and the knight's seat and the cathedral courtyard were since then under the man chamber of Aldenhoven .

In the first half of the 17th century, the von Hetzingen family owned the Eschweiler Castle. From 1654 on, the complex came into the possession of the von Hompesch family , an old Rhenish family, for almost 180 years . Hompeschstrasse, formerly Hompeschgärten, was named after him in 1898 in Eschweiler-Mitte. The first lord of the castle was Karl Kaspar Hompesch.

When Wilhelm Graf von Hompesch-Bollheim died in 1830, the castle came into the possession of the Elector Palatine captain Carl Englerth , who was the first mayor of Eschweiler. His son Friedrich Englerth built a new, cube-shaped house on the foundations of the old castle complex, which was popularly known as "coffee dump". In 1845 the new building was occupied, although it was not yet completed.

In August 1858 the Catholic parish of St. Peter and Paul purchased the area for 16,000 thalers in order to set up a hospital in the buildings.

Building history

Although neither an exact date of construction nor a builder is known, historians assume, based on the former design, that the first Eschweiler castle complex dates from the 13th or 14th century. A circular wall with six round towers, which were two meters thick, encompassed an area of ​​197 × 93 meters. The mansion had a square floor plan of 21 × 21 meters and was surrounded by a moat that was fed by a tributary of the Inde .

During the Thirty Years War , after the battle on the Kempen Heide , Eschweiler and its castle were conquered in 1642 by troops from Hesse, Weimar and France. The owners were able to keep the property, but there was a lack of financial means to repair damage or even to have new buildings built.

Around 1800, a large part of the complex was abandoned due to disrepair, and the old castle dungeon was discovered under the southeast tower. Only the round towers including the surrounding wall and the farm buildings were spared from demolition. In 1840 there was a pump house in the south tower.

Around 1845, Friedrich Englerth had a new building designed according to the romanticizing ideas of the time. As architect he hired to Frederick Henry Exner, of the towers of the house with battlements wreaths and loopholes endowed.

After acquiring the castle, the parish of St. Peter and Paul had some new buildings built on the site. B. 1892 a chapel and 1926 a large extension wing.

In the middle of 1967 the castle buildings had to give way to a new building for the St. Antonius Hospital. With the exception of three round corner towers, the surrounding wall and an outbuilding, the old structure was demolished. This adjoining building, used for many years as an isolation ward, gave way to the new radiology building in August 2005 . Part of the original castle wall was exposed during the demolition. The hospital morgue was located in the southeast tower until the 1980s.

legend

There is a legend about a ghost in the Eschweiler Castle who wandered around there for a long time. He always patted the residents on the shoulder when they fetched water from the well and at night, starting from a certain room, visited the castle. The residents then sold the castle.

The new owner was a brave nobleman and began to research the mystery of the spirit. One night he sat down in the room from which the ghost always started. At midnight on the dot a ghostly figure dressed in white appeared to him and beckoned the lord of the castle to follow her. The ghost led him through all the rooms down to the cellar, where the nobleman found a large key. Then the white figure led him through the vaulted cellar to a bolted trapdoor. The lord of the castle opened it with the key he found and followed the ghost into a room below, in the middle of which were three vessels. On closer inspection, the nobleman noticed that they were filled with gold and all sorts of precious jewelry. At the same moment he heard a deep, relieved sigh, and when he turned around, the mysterious figure was gone.

From that point on, the spirit no longer appeared, for it had found someone bold enough to follow it and thus discover the treasure. This was once hidden there by three sisters who had died in the meantime, without having told anyone their secret during their lifetime. The last deceased, however, found no rest in her grave and went every night in search of a man who was bold enough to follow her so that she could give him the treasure. Her spirit was now redeemed, and the lord of the castle used the money for the benefit of the poor in the village.

literature

Web links

Commons : Eschweiler Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files