Prince-Bishop's Palace in Münster
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The Prince Bishop's Castle in Westphalia Münster is in the years 1767-1787 in the style of the Baroque penultimate built residential palace for Minster Prince Bishop Maximilian Friedrich von Koenigsegg-Rothenfels . The architect was Johann Conrad Schlaun . Since 1954 it has been the seat and landmark of the Westphalian Wilhelms University . The castle is built from the Baumberger sandstone typical of Münster .
Building description
Schlaun designed the castle in the basic form of a high baroque residence. As building material, he chose the charming combination of light Baumberger sandstone for cornices , pilasters and decoration and red brick for the surfaces, which is typical for him . Above the ground floor, which was primarily used for commercial purposes, lies the representative main floor ( bel étage ) , above it a lower living floor and the attic chambers. The structure shows complete symmetry . The main building, stretching in north-south direction, has two equally high, relatively short arms on the flanks, leading at right angles to the east, so that a large courtyard is created. All the attention of those coming from the city side is drawn to the wide central projection with the main portal, which is raised in the roof area and crowned with a lantern . Its facade is decorated with an antique gable and an apotheosis of the prince-bishop's coat of arms with music-making angels. The double, concave-convex oscillation of this facade area is particularly characteristic of Schlaun.
history
Building history
The medieval residence of the bishops was in the Fürstenhof on Domplatz. From 1661 the Fraterhaus zum Springborn on Krummen Timpen was the city residence of the prince-bishops. Soon afterwards, plans arose to build a representative castle, but they remained unrealized.
Today's castle was built in the eastern area of the remains of an early baroque citadel , the Paulsburg, today's Botanical Garden, which can still be seen in the aerial photo by its bastions . The citadel of Münster was built on a presumably medieval predecessor from 1661 to around 1700. In view of the severe destruction of the city during the Seven Years' War , Franz Freiherr von Fürstenberg , Minister for the Duchy of Münster under Prince-Bishop Maximilian Friedrich von Königsegg-Rothenfels , ordered the demolition of the fortifications after the end of the war in 1764.
Johann Conrad Schlaun made the first plans to build a residence on site as early as 1732. The construction of a monastery church began, but was never completed. Only after the end of the Seven Years' War and the demolition of the fortifications of the city of Münster did the prince-bishop, at the request of the Münster nobility, issue the contract to build a residential palace on the site of the former citadel, which lasted from 1767 to 1787. The foundation stone was laid on August 26, 1767.
For the construction of this residential palace, Johann Conrad Schlaun drew up a general plan on which the work should be based. It stipulated that Marställe should be built on both sides in front of the castle . Further farm buildings were to be built behind these two. At the forefront, two guard houses, also known as “Kavaliershäuser”, were to delimit the courtyard in front of the palace, while the palace square (still called Neuplatz at the time ) was to be laid out as a large green space between the palace and the city. At the rear of the palace, Schlaun planned a large garden based on ideal French ideas.
By the time Schlaun died in 1773, the exterior of the castle, the northern stables, the northern guardhouse and the interior of the south wing had been completed. He was succeeded by Wilhelm Ferdinand Lipper , a supporter of classicism . He was unable to get his way with the client's suggestions for changes to the plans for the facades , but instead was allowed to implement the interior fittings that no longer exist in the classicist style.
Lipper built the southern guardhouse from Schlaun's general plan, while the southern stables and farm buildings were no longer built. The palace garden behind the palace, planned by Schlaun based on the French model, was replaced by Lipper with the English design ideal.
Use as a residence
The client of the building, Prince-Bishop Maximilian Friedrich, died in 1784, three years before completion. His successor Maximilian Franz of Austria , as well as Maximilian Friedrich at the same time Prince Archbishop of Cologne , stayed more in his electoral residence in Bonn than in Münster. With the end of the Principality of Münster through the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss , the Residenzschloss lost the function for which it was built.
In 1803, the Prussian civil governor Freiherr vom Stein and Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher moved into the castle. From 1815 the palace was the seat of the respective upper president and the commanding general of the province of Westphalia .
During this time, the Westphalian provincial monument for Kaiser Wilhelm I was erected and unveiled on October 27, 1897, the birthday of Prince Friedrich Karl . His son, Prince Friedrich Leopold , represented the emperor at the unveiling of the monument. The sculptor Friedrich Reusch in Königsberg was the creator of the equestrian statue ; the base was designed by the Berlin architect Bruno Schmitz . The monument stood on the new site exactly in the axis of the castle.
After the end of the First World War , two monuments were erected in the palace gardens :
- The "Standing Soldier" was inaugurated in 1923 according to plans by the sculptor Alexander Frerichmann and is intended to commemorate the field artillery regiment No. 22 .
- The "Lothringerkreuz" was created by Albert Mazzotti and Wilhelm Wucherpfennig and erected in the 1920s. It is supposed to remind of the field artillery regiment No. 69 .
Both monuments are under monument protection . In 1987, on the occasion of the sculpture projects, the artist Jenny Holzer added five stone benches to the ensemble to encourage reflection.
The castle at the time of National Socialism
During the time of National Socialism, the ground floor of the palace was the seat of the state building authority, the Gauleiter Westphalia-North, Alfred Meyer lived on the second floor. Several air raid shelters were set up in the basement of the castle , preparations for fire protection were made, including doors in fire protection walls were clad with sheet metal, and sand and water boxes were set up. From January to April 1943, an art exhibition with paintings and woodwork was held in the castle for propaganda purposes.
The Schlossplatz was several times a place for parades of the Gaus Westfalen Nord.
Destruction in World War II
In air raids on Münster in the Second World War the castle was severely damaged. The first bomb hit in 1941 set the roof structure on fire, but the fire was extinguished. Bombs exploding on Schlossplatz also destroyed all the window panes on the front. These damages have been fixed again. The equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I was removed on August 22, 1942 in order to use the bronze parts for armaments production.
On March 25, 1945, the castle was hit again by several incendiary bombs and subsequently burned for several days, as the fire brigade could not bring fire engines to the castle via the destroyed streets. Despite the fire, parts of the furnishings (doors, furniture, textiles and wall paneling) were saved. Only the outer walls of the castle itself remained largely intact; parts of the north wing could already be rented to craftsmen from November 1945. Only the former palace chapel in the south wing of the palace remained of the historical structure. Today it is divided into lecture halls S1 and S2 by an inserted false ceiling. Stucco puttings on the walls and ceilings reveal the earlier destination.
reconstruction
After the burnout, the remains were exposed to the elements without protection. Plans to impregnate the wall crowns could not be put into practice because no wood was available for scaffolding. Therefore a roof was not possible.
The British occupation forces planned to tear down the remains of the castle to make way for the supply units of their troops. However, this plan was abandoned after violent protests by German authorities. Reconstruction could begin in 1946 after all university buildings had been destroyed and the castle was classified as a "less destroyed building". In November 1946 , the provincial curator Wilhelm Rave presented plans that represented the building as an "administrative and lecture building of the state university". These plans envisaged reusing the outer walls so as not to have to lay a new foundation.
This plan was approved by the Ministry of Reconstruction and the Regional Council. Tidying up began in 1946, including tearing down interior walls that were still standing. In April 1947 the formal building permit was granted, with the help of the heavy equipment that was now available, the gutting could be completed. Rave's plans were taken up by the architect Hans Malwitz and his work was based on when it began in August 1947. The first lectures were held in the south wing as early as January 1949. The topping-out ceremony for the palace (with the exception of the central pavilion) took place in May 1949, and in July 1950 the topping-out ceremony was also held for the central building. As early as the summer semester of 1950, lectures were held again in the castle while the construction work was still going on and although some false ceilings were still missing.
In 1954 the castle finally became the official seat of the Westphalian Wilhelms University . During the reconstruction, it was initially planned to expand the lecture hall “S10”, which was previously on the third floor, into the largest lecture hall at the university, which would have meant doing without the tower and was Malwitz's favored solution. Due to the objection of the state curator, however, this conversion was not carried out, so that the tower was put back on the roof of the castle, together with a carillon that can also be heard since 1954.
The cost of the reconstruction was around 2.5 million Reichsmarks . 1.9 million bricks, 50,000 roof tiles, 800 tons of cement, 150 tons of lime and 1000 m² of glass were used.
The castle as part of the university
Today the castle is the representative landmark of the Westphalian Wilhelms University and is also shown stylized in the logo.
Almost all of the buildings completed by Schlaun are used by the university. In addition to the rectorate and administration, the main building of the castle also houses the lecture halls S1 , S2 , S6 , S8 , S9 and S10 as well as the auditorium in the castle .
The university's AStA is housed in the southern guardhouse. The WWU Graduate Center, the Graduate School "Münster Graduate School of Evolution" (MGSE) and the University Funding are located in the other, northern guardhouse.
The palace garden also includes the botanical garden , which was for a long time the seat of the Institute for Botany of the Department of Biology, which was built at the end of the 19th century . This is now together with the Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and the Institute for Zoophysiology in the northern Marstall.
To the south of the castle, where Schlaun planned the southern stables, there is a parking lot for university employees. This is followed by Hüfferstrasse and the court center, so that the castle forms the southern end of the complex.
particularities
Carillon
A carillon sounds three times a day from the 18 bells on the roof of the castle. A total of ten different songs are programmed, which are played one after the other, including “ Practice always faithful and honesty ”, “ We come to pray ” and “ Thoughts are free ”. In addition to this carillon, the bells also announce the time every quarter of an hour: 15 minutes after a full hour they are struck once, 30 minutes later twice, after 45 minutes three times and every full hour four times. The number of hours is then posted every full hour. Although it looks like part of the original late 18th century castle, the carillon wasn't installed until 1954.
painting
The large-format painting “Call for Defense of Personal Freedom” by the Austrian artist Rudolf Hausner can be found in the palace foyer .
competition
Another special feature is the winners' tournament, which takes place every year in the summer months . This is a top-class horse show held by the Westphalian Equestrian Club . The jumping and dressage competitions of the tournament take place in front of the historical backdrop on the Schlossplatz.
Folk festival
Fireworks are also set off on Friday evenings at the Send Volksfest, which takes place three times a year on Schlossplatz .
literature
- Bernd Fischer: Münster and the Münsterland. 5th edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1989, ISBN 3-7701-1278-4 , pp. 78-82.
- Jürg Meyer zur Capellen (Ed.): Kunstraum Schloss. 1st edition. Rhema-Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-930454-49-1 .
- Birgitta Ringbeck: The castle in Münster . Westfälische Kunststätten vol. 65, Münster 1993, ISSN 0930-3952 .
- Martin Klöffler: Fortress inventory . 9th expanded and corrected edition. Düsseldorf 2010, http://www.ingenieurgeograph.de/Publikationen_/Inventar/NW.pdf , p. 44.
- Hubert Naendrup : The castle in Münster, A symphony of life, death and immortality , Münster 1928, F. Bruckmann AG publishing house, Munich
Web links
- Summary of the history of the castle by Dr. Eckhard Kluth, curator of the university archive
- Schlaun's general plan as a model in the Münster City Museum
- Panorama of the palace and palace square
- Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe: Castle garden in LWL geodata culture
- Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe: Schlossplatz in LWL GeodatenKultur
Individual evidence
- ^ Internet portal Westphalian history
- ↑ monuments of the city of Münster, June 30, 2015. Entries to Memorial Field Artillery Regiment. 22 and palace garden Lothr Memorial. Field artillery regiment No. 69 , castle garden without house number.
- ^ Memorial / memorial / sculpture projects: warning and reflection (standing soldier with additional benches, Münster 1923/1987) In: LWL-Medienzentrum
- ^ Jana Steinbeck, Wolfgang Wette: The castle garden in Münster . In: Die Gartenkunst 22 (2/2010), pp. 207–222.
Coordinates: 51 ° 57 ′ 49.3 " N , 7 ° 36 ′ 47" E