Eulenburg (Rinteln)
The Eulenburg in Rinteln , Lower Saxony, is a historical building, the origin of which is believed to be a medieval residential tower from the time the city was founded in the 13th century. With its towering structure made of solid stone masonry, it is one of the most important buildings in town in terms of urban history. Eulenburg received its current appearance in 1591 through a rebuilding. After a variety of uses, such as the Burgmannsitz , the monastic city courtyard and the Hessian-Schaumburg government and administrative seat, it now houses the Rinteln Museum .
Surname
The origin of the term Eulenburg is not clear. Probably it is a derivation from Eolenborg for old castle . This assumption led to speculations as to whether the building is identical to a castle in Rinteln, which was mentioned in a document in the 14th century. Its earlier location is assumed to be in the area of the Münchhausen and Parkhof, as the land there still belonged to the Schaumburg counts in the 16th century . Another explanation of the name is a corruption by students of the University of Rinteln to make the seat of the princely government chancellery ridiculous.
Location and building description
The Eulenburg building is located within the Rinteln city fortifications that were built in the Middle Ages . It is located on the southwest corner, close to the former city wall . Between 1665 and 1712, the mill extender, which flows outside the wall, was moved inside, which has since run on the Eulenburg property. Because of the moisture, the building basement can hardly be used to this day.
The first building of the Eulenburg is referred to in a document from 1483 as "Steenwerk". This designation stands for buildings made of solid stone masonry, as opposed to the half-timbered construction customary in Rinteln at that time . The building, which was probably rebuilt in 1591, presents itself as a towering, massive structure with a steep pitched roof . The Gothic- looking gable , which was previously covered with heavy stone slabs, is striking . The three-storey building has two and three-part windows, some of which are small and crooked. The simple facade remained free of the widespread ornamentation of the Weser Renaissance . The simplicity of the external building design with renunciation of pomp is attributed to the Protestant modesty of the monastic builders. In contrast, the interiors were given a lush painting in the Weser Renaissance style, a small remnant of which could be exposed again.
Building history
The Eulenburg was probably built during the founding of Rinteln in the 13th century. Its massive building foundations consist of two squares placed next to each other, which suggests that it was built as a medieval residential tower. The Eulenburg received its current appearance at the time when the Möllenbeck Monastery was using the building as a town courtyard. In 1591 the building was extensively renovated using the old foundation walls . The cause for this could have been a fire, as indicated by a large floor layer of fire rubble on the north side of the building. Recent studies by a building historian, according to which the load-bearing timber were felled in 1591, speak in favor of a largely new building . The peasant renewal goes back to Jodokus Stuken as prior of the Möllenbeck monastery. A building inscription in Latin bears witness to this. When the Hessian-Schaumburg government moved into Eulenburg in 1651, the building was in poor condition. There were settlement cracks because of the damp subsoil , which led to major renovations in 1662. Oak beams were used for stabilization and the rooms were divided into small chambers. In the following centuries, the different building uses led to conversions and additions, such as in 1904 with a staircase extension on the rear side. A building renovation took place in 1998 for the contemporary redesign of the museum exhibition.
history
The time when the Eulenburg was built is not known. According to documented tradition, in the late Middle Ages it belonged to the von Rottorp family , who were closely connected to the Möllenbeck Abbey, as their unmarried daughters lived there as canons . The von Rottorp family donated the Eulenburg to the monastery before their family died out, which according to a document was the case no later than 1483.
At the end of the 16th century the bloom of the monastery ended and the town of Rinteln acquired the Eulenburg in 1612 for 1,100 thalers . After the division of the County of Schaumburg , Rinteln came to the Landgraves of Hessen-Kassel in 1647 , who made the town the seat of government of a distant exclave in 1651 . The government chancellery and the higher court, as the highest institutions in Schaumburg, had their seat in the Eulenburg. For around 200 years, the Eulenburg served as the administrative and government seat until Rinteln lost its importance in the middle of the 19th century. After the authorities moved out in 1866 and the composer Wilhelm Volckmar, who lives in Homberg (Efze) , bought the Eulenburg in 1870, but never moved in, the building threatened to fall into disrepair. From around the turn of the century it was used as a student residence until 1932. Then an agricultural school moved in and between 1938 and 1942 the Rinteln Museum was located in the Eulenburg. At the beginning of the Second World War, the Eulenburg was used by the neighboring hospital and after the end of the war to accommodate displaced people. Since 1967 the Eulenburg has again housed the city museum.
Web links
- History of the Eulenburg near Die Eulenburg. Museum Rinteln
- Photos from the Eulenburg at the Photo Archive Photo Marburg
Coordinates: 52 ° 11 ′ 5 " N , 9 ° 4 ′ 38.4" E