Wilhelmstein
| Wilhelmstein Island | ||
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| Waters | steinhuder sea | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 27 '37 " N , 9 ° 18' 28" E | |
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| surface | 1.25 ha | |
| Residents | 1 (Inselvogt) 80 inhabitants / km² |
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The Wilhelmstein is a 1.25 hectare artificial island in the Steinhuder Meer in the Hanover region , which was created in the 18th century for military reasons as a state fortress of the Grafschaft Schaumburg-Lippe . The fortress Wilhelmstein, which still belongs to the house of Schaumburg-Lippe , has been located there ever since . Today the island near Hagenburg is a popular destination that can be reached by emigrant boats from Steinhude and Mardorf .
Emergence
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Count Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe had the island with the fortress built between 1761 and 1767. The island fortress, built in the typical star-shaped bastion system of the time, was considered the center of the small state of Schaumburg-Lippe and served its defense despite its small size. Count Wilhelm wanted to protect the small county, which at that time had only 17,000 subjects, against possible attempts at annexation by other powers. During the planning, he benefited from military experience as an artilleryman in the Seven Years' War and a military leader in Portugal.
The fortress in the Steinhuder Meer was supposed to become an impregnable vanishing point and prevent an attacker from taking possession of the county. The defensive case actually occurred 20 years after the fortress was completed (see Siege 1787 below ). The foundation stone was laid in 1761 in the southwest area of the lake, 1.4 km from the shore. The construction project was called Wilhelms Insuln , as it was initially about the Wilhelmstein as a fortress island with 16 side islands (Wilhelmsinseln).
Between 1761 and 1765 the island on which the fortress was to be built was raised. To this end, the population brought in around 30 m³ of loose material made of sand, gravel and stones every working day for five years. In summer fishermen transported the material in their boats, in winter farmers brought it up on sleds. The 1.2 km long Hagenburg Canal was excavated as a branch canal from Hagenburg Castle to the Steinhuder Meer especially for delivery . Despite Count Wilhelm's claim to forced labor, he had the workers paid.
Building description
fortress
Between 1765 and 1767, a star-shaped jump with four bastions and a citadel as well as pincer-shaped tenaillen was built on the island, which was much smaller than it is today . While the outer walls consisted of stone blocks, brick was built inside . The soldiers were housed in the casemates inside the fortress. The bulletproof vaults were also used to store ammunition and food. A small castle was built above the casemates as living space for the fortress commanders and officers. It had a tower on which an observatory was located from 1774 . For the patrols of the guards there was a narrow berm at water level around the fortress and above the fortress there was a path around the castle.
The fortress structure, above the castle with the tower
Masonry of the fortress with memorial stone
Fortress entrance
Casemate in the fortress
External works
Around the fortress island, 16 more islands were built as external works , initially as platforms on wooden posts and beams. They formed four outer bastions, four medium ravelins, and eight smaller curtains . The outer works were connected to each other and to the fortress island with drawbridges . In addition to cannon positions, there were permanent houses with workshops, warehouses, a hospital and study rooms, as well as a windmill. In the south-west a small port was built that still exists today. There were five small gunboats there . The count had an experimental garden laid out on one of the outer works.
Waves and ice caused damage to the outer works early on . The wooden posts also rotten quickly in the water. As early as 1772, the external works were given a solid base by adding sand and stones. The external works no longer exist in their original form. They were integrated into the main island when the spaces between them were filled in around 1810. As a result, the island in its present-day, almost square shape with a side length of about 100 m was created from the star-shaped structure. Nine of the former 16 houses still exist today (for sailors, sergeants, servants, barracks, blacksmiths, infirmary, powder house, cattle house). Most of them are not original wooden buildings from 1767, but stone replicas from the middle of the 19th century.
Historic, as yet unrenovated island house on a former outer works
Small harbor with island houses
Fortress cannon on the island shore
Armament and Crew
The fortress had the most modern armament at that time with 166 cannons in 1777. These included three, six and twelve pounder cannons (according to the weight of the cannonball ) and mortars . By 1850 there were only about 100 guns left because some of them were sold. Four long loopholes for cannons are embedded in the fortress walls .
In the event of war, a crew of 800 soldiers was planned, half of whom were intended for the fortress and the outer works. In the early years the regular strength was 250 soldiers, later around 150 men. In 1782 the crew was reduced to 22 men for cost reasons.
The service of the soldiers at the fortress was not harmless to health. The constant dampness caused colds and rheumatism . In times of peace, the soldiers therefore only served a maximum of ten days on the island, on land they were housed in Hagenburg and Steinhude. Individual wives of soldiers who washed for the crew and did other household chores also lived on the island. In winter the island was temporarily cut off from the mainland when the ice was not yet bearing and boats could not sail. Because of this, large amounts of food and fuel were stored in the fortress. In winter, the crew had to keep the islands free of ice with long saws.
Wilhelmsteiner field
In 1772 the Wilhelmsteiner Feld was built on the moored south-west bank of the Steinhuder Sea as a mooring for the Wilhelmstein's boat fleet. The artillery premier lieutenant in the high counts Schaumburg Lippischen artillery corps Ernst Carl von Colson (1746–1795) had the supervision of this work , during which also a drainage of the wetland took place. There were jumps and other fortifications and practice facilities. The area was also used for agriculture, because the island fortress was to be supplied with the produce in the event of war. Merited soldiers were given farm positions in the Wilhelmsteiner Feld. After the Count's death in 1777, the military and civil installations were sold and the land turned back into moorland.
Functions
From the time of completion in 1767 until the death of the builder Count Wilhelm in 1777, the Wilhelmstein had a military function as a fortress . During this time and afterwards, the island had other functions:
Military school
When the island fortress was completed in 1767, Count Wilhelm set up a war school in it , which he called the Practical Artillery and Genius School . It served the training of officers, non-commissioned officers and men in the artillery and pioneering . The students lived alternately on the island and in Steinhude. Attending the school for several years was free of charge. She not only imparted military knowledge such as ballistics and tactics, but from 1770 also taught general subjects such as physics, medicine, chemistry as well as history and foreign languages. In the first 10 years of the military school's existence, 44 officer candidates were trained. The most famous student was the later Prussian general and army reformer Gerhard von Scharnhorst . He began his service on the Wilhelmstein in 1773 at the age of 18 and stayed until 1777. Later he received the gold medal of the war school. After Count Wilhelm's death in 1777, his successor Philipp Ernst moved the school to Bückeburg , where it was closed in 1787.
Prison island
After the death of Count Wilhelm in 1777 and the relocation of the war school to Bückeburg in 1787, the fortress island had become largely inoperative. It then became a state prison for the county of Schaumburg-Lippe . Initially, mainly felons were arrested who had to serve longer or lifelong imprisonment. Around 1815 there were an average of 10 permanent prisoners on the island, a total of around 300 prisoners were held in the prison, which had been in existence for over 80 years. They had to do forced labor on the island . Some deceased prisoners were buried on the island. Because of its location in the water, the prison island was considered safe from escape. There are three known eruptions over the ice (1784) and by swimming on a wooden plank, one of which (1832) failed. In connection with the dissolution of the Schaumburg-Lippische military after an agreement with Prussia in 1867, the prison was closed and the last prisoners were sent to prisons on the mainland.
Historical destination
The excursion traffic to the island started early. The first visitor entered the tourist book in 1767, the year the fortress was completed. In the beginning, the visitors, around 50 a year on average, were aristocrats or high- ranking members of the military . The siege of 1787 gave the fortress island a high profile, so that from 1790 up to 300 people came to the island every year. After it was no longer used as a prison in 1867, tourism increased considerably. The island was already prepared as a visitor destination by the House of Schaumburg-Lippe at this time . Surrounding health resorts, such as Bad Nenndorf , Bad Eilsen and Bad Rehburg , ensured high visitor numbers. Prominent island visitors were Johann Gottfried Herder , Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué , Jérôme Bonaparte and Kaiser Wilhelm I.
A further increase in tourism to the island began around 1900, which was also taken care of by the Steinhuder Meer Railway , which went into operation in 1898 . For the fishermen of the Steinhuder Meer, tourism to the island meant a new source of income. They acquired larger boats in the form of emigrant boats to transport people.
In the 21st century, the island's owner, Prince Alexander zu Schaumburg-Lippe, had extensive renovations carried out on the historic island buildings between 2005 and 2009 for around 1 million euros in order to make the island more attractive for tourism. 7 of the 9 island houses have been restored and made usable again.
Siege of 1787
For a long time, the island fortress was viewed as a playful idea by a military enthusiast cannongrave in the person of Count Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe . When he died in 1777 without a male heir and his successor Philipp Ernst also died in 1787 , the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel raised a claim to the Grafschaft of Schaumburg-Lippe . Hessian troops occupied the county in February 1787 without encountering any resistance. Only about 150 men holed up on the Wilhelmstein. The Hessians, with a strength of around 2,800 men, besieged the fortress island. The cannons failed because they could not be set up close enough because of the swampy shore of the Steinhuder Meer. The tactic of starving the fortress garrison also failed: The Wilhelmstein was supported by the Electorate of Hanover , to which the north bank of the lake belonged. During the siege, the imperial leadership gave Prussia and the electorate a mandate to liberate the county of Schaumburg-Lippe by force if necessary. When this coalition gathered several thousand soldiers, the Hessians began to withdraw.
Todays situation
Ownership
The Wilhelmstein island in the Steinhuder Meer is owned by the Schaumburg-Lippe family . Today it is administered by an island bailiff of the princely court chamber in Bückeburg . Associated with this is the right of access with a motorboat to the island on the otherwise motorboat-free lake. Originally, the Steinhuder Meer also belonged to the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe . However, after the November Revolution of 1918/19, the prince ceded half of it to the state to prevent expropriation . With the territorial reform of 1974, the remaining half of the Steinhuder Meer was sold by the prince to the district of Hanover at a price of DM 5 million .
General
The restored buildings offer a café, a souvenir shop, seminar rooms and overnight accommodation for tourists. A small exhibition about the Steinhuder Meer Nature Park is located in a small island house . Around 80,000 day visitors who arrive on emigrant boats or passenger ships visit the island every year. Sailboats can moor on the island for a fee.
The entire fortress is now a museum that can be visited for an entrance fee. Maps, weapons ( mortars , cannon barrels , cannon balls , rifles ) and other items from the history of the facility are displayed. Earlier living and holding cells are also reproduced.
Since 2005, 20 couples per year have had the opportunity to be civilly married in the former room of the island commandant . Weddings on the island began around 1900 and were very popular. After the Second World War , however, interest in island weddings declined.
Exhibitions
Since 2003 the art association Meerkunstraum eV has presented a series of open-air exhibitions on the island of Wilhelmstein under the title Durch-Blick . In 2013 the artist Timm Ulrichs showed five installations in his exhibition Im Glashaus auf der Insel under the motto “Who sits in a glass house ...”.
Others
The first submarine in Germany, the Steinhuder Hecht , was launched from the island in 1772 .
The fortress served as a model for the Fort Nossa Senhora da Graça in the city of Elvas in Portugal, which Count Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe had built in the 18th century in the style of Vaubans . The Portuguese king initially named the fort in honor of the count as "Fort de Lippe". It served as a defense against the Spaniards.
See also
literature
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The Wilhelmstein im Steinhuder Meer , pp. 201-212, in: If stones could talk , Volume I, Landbuch-Verlag, Hanover 1989, ISBN 3-7842-0397-3 .
- Curd Ochwadt: Wilhelmstein and Wilhelmsteiner field. From the work of Count Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe (1724-1777). Charis-Verlag, Hanover [around 1970]
- The Steinhuder Meer. A collection of news and descriptions up to 1900. Edited with translations and follow-ups. by Curd Ochwadt. 2nd edition Charis-Verlag, Hanover 1975, ISBN 3-921160-03-0
- Hermann Tiemann: History of the fortress Wilhelmstein in the Steinhuder sea . Verlag von Heinrich Heine, Stadthagen 1908 (1st edition) and 1922 (2nd edition)
- Silke Wagener-Fimpel, Martin Fimpel: The Wilhelmstein fortress in the Steinhuder Sea . Schaumburg Landscape, Bückeburg 2004, ISBN 3-00-011662-1
- Irmela Wilckens, Claudia Rump: Time travel through the Hanover region . Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2005, pp. 34–35, ISBN 3-8313-1517-5
- Bodo Dringenberg: Murder on the Wilhelmstein. A historical detective novel. zu Klampen Verlag, Springe 2007, ISBN 978-3-86674-041-9
Web links
- official website
- Wilhelmstein in the Lower Saxony Monument Atlas
- Description and photos at burgerbe-Blog.de
- Wilhelmstein at burgenwelt.de
- Description at hannover.de
- Plan of the Wilhelmstein
- Plan of the Wilhelmstein field
- Interactive 360 ° panorama photo of the island - from the ground
- Interactive 360 ° panorama photo of the island and the Steinhuder Meer - from the observation tower
- Interactive 360 ° panorama photo of the fortress casemate - from the inside
Individual evidence
- ↑ Compare, for example, the website meerkunstraum.de
- ↑ Compare the documentation at Commons (see under the section Weblinks )