Aarburg fortress

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Aarburg fortress
Aarburg fortress and in front of it the city church, including parts of the old town

Aarburg fortress and in front of it the city church, including parts of the old town

Creation time : 12th century, 1659–1673
Conservation status: receive
Place: Aarburg
Geographical location 47 ° 19 '17.9 "  N , 7 ° 54' 3.4"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 19 '17.9 "  N , 7 ° 54' 3.4"  E ; CH1903:  634951  /  241300
Height: 405  m above sea level M.
Aarburg Fortress (Canton of Aargau)
Aarburg fortress

The Aarburg is a mighty fortress in the southwest of the canton of Aargau in Switzerland . It is located high above the town of Aarburg on a steep rock spur. In the early 12th century was a castle which the bottleneck at the Aare controlled and as the seat of Aarburger bailiff served. The city of Bern had the castle expanded into a fortress more than 400 meters long between 1659 and 1673. It served to secure the subject areas in the Bernese Aargau and as a prison . Aarburg Fortress is the only preserved fortress from the early modern period in Switzerland and is classified as a cultural asset of national importance . The cantonal youth home has been located in the fortress since 1893 and has implemented protective measures under youth criminal law.

history

Medieval castle

The first indirect mention of the Aarburg was made in 1123 in connection with Count Adalbero I. von Frohburg . Presumably there has been a castle on the rock spur since the beginning of the 12th century, but no corresponding archaeological finds exist yet. Around the middle of the 12th century, the Aarburg passed from the Frohburgers to the barons of Büron , who subsequently referred to themselves as the barons of Aarburg . Shortly before 1200, the Frohburger took the castle back into their possession and appointed ministerials . The castle was first mentioned directly in 1255. Around 15 years earlier it had passed to the Waldenburg branch of the family due to the division of power in Frohburg . The oldest remaining part of the castle, consisting of the main tower ("Harzer") and the palace, was built around this time . The castle served to better control the north-south connection and to monitor the important Aare river port on the scales. With her was blood jurisdiction linked. The administrative area included the western part of today's Zofingen district , but without the city of Zofingen itself.

In 1299 the Frohburgers sold the castle and the entire office to the Habsburgs . From 1330 the von Kriech family lived here, a lower nobility of the Habsburgs who took over the castle and office as pledge. In April 1415, the city of Bern conquered parts of what is now Aargau. However, the then owner of the fortress, Johannes Kriech, offered resistance to the Bernese for a long time, even when the town was already taken. Only when he heard that the rest of Aargau had actually been conquered did he sell the castle to the Bernese in 1416. Regardless of this, his brother-in-law Rudolf von Landenberg wanted to assert a claim in 1446, but was refused. From 1416 the new Bern office in Aarburg was administered by bailiffs who resided in the castle from 1419. At the beginning, they managed the entire Bernese Aargau . Only later, when Bern pushed back the rights of the nobility and clergy more and more, were other bailiwicks added: Lenzburg (1442), Schenkenberg (1460), Biberstein (1499), Zofingen (1528), Königsfelden (1528) and Kasteln (1732). The term of office of the bailiff from the Bern patriciate was six years each.

In 1470 the palace was extensively renovated. It comprised a coring, a new floor division and an addition. In 1534/35 the top floor of the palace was raised and today's roof structure was built . The top floor of the main tower was demolished and a barrel vault with parapet was replaced instead . In 1557 a tent roof was added. The renovations from 1621 to 1627 served to increase the living comfort and the representative effect of the castle. A hexagonal stair tower was built on the south-west corner of the palace, and at the same time the “front buw” (front building) on ​​the south facade.

Expansion into a fortress

The south facade of the fortress

In 1654 councilor Hans Rudolf Willading received the order to examine the castle for expansion possibilities; his report had no consequences for the time being. Under the influence of the First Villmerger War , the Zurich fortress builder Johann Georg Wertmüller planned the expansion of the castle into a fortress. In his opinion, the fortification of the mountain ridge, which led to the east, was urgently needed, as it could easily be taken. The project he created did not materialize because the costs were too high. Finally, in 1661, the city council of Bern managed to decide on the full expansion of the artillery fortress.

The foundations of the fortress were in place by 1663. Then the actual construction work began, which dragged on for ten years. The purpose of the fortress was to protect the connection between the Reformed cities of Bern and Zurich at the narrowest point of the Bernese territory and thus to make any attacks by Catholic neighbors more difficult. From 1666 the fortress was permanently occupied by a garrison , the governor was now also in command. Part of the fortress served as a prison , especially for political prisoners. The most famous inmate is Jacques-Barthélemy Micheli du Crest , who was imprisoned here from 1749 to 1766; a plaque at the powder laboratory reminds of him.

Cantonal youth home

On March 10, 1798, the Bernese handed the fortress over to the French without a fight . During the time of the Helvetic Republic a garrison was still stationed and state prisoners continued to be incarcerated. In 1804 the newly created canton of Aargau took over the fortress. It served as an armory and barracks until 1826, then as a prison. After a new, modern penal institution was opened in Lenzburg , the Lenzburg penal institution, the premises were empty and the canton rented them out to poor people. As a result, the fortress became increasingly neglected, as the canton limited itself to the bare minimum in terms of maintenance.

In 1891, the Grand Council decided to set up an «institution for juvenile criminals and the good-for-nothing» on the fortress. The forced education institution opened in 1893 was the first of its kind in Switzerland. At the beginning, the institution was primarily geared towards discipline, order and punishment, but from the 1930s onwards, the educational idea came to the fore. From 1946 to 1959, the institution was completely rebuilt, which mainly affected the main tower, the hall and the barracks. A second overall renewal followed from 1984 to 1988 in order to take account of the new youth criminal law. Further renovations were carried out in 1993 and 2005–2007. In 1972 the "educational institution" was renamed "Erziehungsheim" and in 1989 to "youth home". The writer Jenö Marton was one of the inmates of the educational institution .

building

General plan of the fortress

On the narrow, elongated ridge form main tower and Palas , both from limestone built, the core of the system. This is the oldest part of the fortress, but it has been heavily influenced by numerous alterations and changes of use since its creation in the 13th century. The main hall is 21 meters long and 9 meters wide, the wall thickness is 2 meters up to the ceiling of the first floor and then tapers noticeably. Two arched windows made of tuff stone have been preserved from the oldest building structure on the southwest side of the attic . The third floor was expanded into a representative hall. On the south side next to the Palas is the main tower, set back a little, whose walls are up to 3.5 meters thick.

The fortress is accessed from the south via a staircase to a ravelin . A staircase carved into the rock and covered by vaults, which was secured with three additional drop gates, leads through a mighty portal to the neck moat (castle courtyard). This forms the transition between the medieval castle and the early modern fortress. From the courtyard is accessed via the lower casemate to Sodbrunnen , which is housed in a large vault space. The well shaft, which is over 2 meters wide, is 45 meters deep and the lower part has been expanded like a cavern. The chapel to the north of the neck ditch has remained largely unchanged since the time it was built during the fortress construction and presents itself as a baroque room with a simple, reformed shape. The pulpit dates from 1668, the choir stalls are a few years younger.

In the eastern part of the fortress between Tenaille and Hornwerk is the place of execution , which served as a place for court hearings and the execution of death sentences during the Bernese rule. The canton of Aargau also had executions carried out here, the last time in 1863.

literature

  • Annelies Hüssy, Christoph Reding, Jürg Andrea Bossardt, Manfred A. Frey, Hans Peter Neuenschwander: The castle and fortress Aarburg . Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History. Swiss art guide, volume 819 , series 82.Bern 2007, ISBN 978-3-85782-819-5 .
  • Kevin Heiniger: Crises, Criticism and Sexual Need. The "re-education" of male youths in the Aarburg institution (1893-1981) . Zurich 2016, ISBN 978-3-0340-1350-5 .
  • Kevin Heiniger: About "messes" and "moral misconduct". Homosexuality and psychiatry in the Aarburg educational institution (1914–1958) . In: Invertito. Yearbook for the History of Homosexualities, vol. 20, 2019. 

Web links

Commons : Aarburg Fortress  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. Pp. 8-9.
  2. ↑ a b The castle and fortress Aarburg. Pp. 11-13.
  3. ↑ Hans Jacob Leu : General Helvetisches, Eydgenössisches or Schweitzerisches Lexicon , Volume 1, Zurich, 1747, p. 326f. ( Google Books ).
  4. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. Pp. 14-20.
  5. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. Pp. 25-28.
  6. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. P. 51.
  7. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. Pp. 35-36.
  8. ↑ a b The history of the Aarburg youth home. Canton of Aargau, 2009, accessed December 30, 2010 .
  9. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. Pp. 37-40.
  10. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. Pp. 10-11.
  11. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. Pp. 42-45.
  12. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. P. 50.
  13. ↑ The castle and fortress Aarburg. P. 52.