Genovevaburg

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Genovevaburg, aerial photo (2015)
Genovevaburg, view from the northeast

Integrated into the medieval city ​​fortifications, the Genoveva Castle rises on the southwest side of the city of Mayen in Rhineland-Palatinate . The castle is the landmark of Mayen and has been rebuilt several times since its first destruction in 1689. Its name is based on a legend according to which the seat of Count Palatine Siegfried and his wife Genoveva von Brabant on the same hill in (or at that time above) Mayen is said to have been. The earliest references to the regional reference of the legend date back to the 17th century. Since when the castle and its keep , the so-called Goloturm are notably linked to the legend, is unknown.

history

The Mayener Genovevaburg was first mentioned in a document in 1281, but it is certain that construction began a year earlier under the Trier Elector Heinrich II von Finstingen . It was created to secure Trier's interests against Kurköln . Heinrich's successor, Bohemond Warne mountain , even reached that the place Mayen in 1291 by King Rudolf I of Habsburg , the city rights were granted.

After its construction, the castle remained intact for 400 years. This only changed with the capture of Mayen by French troops during the Palatinate War of Succession . On May 6, 1689, General Henri d'Escoubleau, comte de Montluc, had the electoral palace burned down by his soldiers.

But just one year later, the Archbishop and Elector Johann Hugo von Orsbeck commissioned his future court architect, Philipp Honorius von Ravensteyn , to rebuild and expand the complex. In the course of this work, the battlements were re-roofed and the corner towers were provided with curved hoods. In addition, the Gothic pointed arch windows had to give way to baroque double windows.

From 1707 the elector had the “lower castle” built from basalt lava. In addition to a stables and stables, a gate was built in the so-called "small courtyard". His coat of arms on the baroque portal of the castle entrance on the city side still testifies to his commitment as a client .

Under French rule, the Genovevaburg was declared national property and auctioned on August 8, 1803. For the sum of 8,100 francs, Philipp Hartung, whose father had been the tenant of the castle since 1793, came into their possession. He sold them piece by piece for demolition and had the office building and the east tower demolished. In 1815 the upper castle building was also demolished.

From 1821 a room in the castle was leased to the newly formed evangelical community as a "prayer room", so that the Genovevaburg became the first place of evangelical worship in Mayen and the surrounding area. In 1830 the community even bought the entire castle for 600 thalers. However, since the Koblenz government did not give consent to the purchase act in time, it was instead sold to Justice of the Peace Cadenbach. On the advice of the government, the community refrained from enforcing their rights in court so as not to worsen the relationship between the denominations. Cadenbach rebuilt the ruins, which meant that the court was temporarily located in the castle buildings.

After Cadenbach, a brewery and an inn moved into the castle walls. The company had the facility redesigned according to their needs and did not hesitate to use the keep as a grain silo . But the brewery did not stay there for long. In 1880 a shareholder group of Mayener Volksbank bought the facility and sold a large part of the upper castle to a merchant 13 years later. This had it converted into a residence in the neo-renaissance style.

The Genovevaburg on a watercolor by Fritz von Wille

On November 7, 1902, the Genovevaburg went up in flames and large parts of it were destroyed by the fire.

Only when the graduate engineer Arend Scholten bought the system in 1910 and had it restored and rebuilt according to the historical model from 1918 onwards, better times began for the system. In the course of this work, many of the structural neo-renaissance elements were removed again. It was also Scholten who made the castle accessible to the public again by enabling the establishment of the Eifel Museum (formerly: Eifel Landscape Museum) in the rebuilt Marstall in 1921.

In 1938 the city of Mayen acquired the castle. Only one year later, the vacant rooms in it were seized for military and administrative purposes.

Numerous extensions to the castle complex were destroyed during the Second World War . Regardless of this, the Mayen city administration and an agricultural school found a temporary home there after 1945. The repair of the war damage lasted until 1984.

use

Slate show mine under the Genoveva castle

The Eifel Museum with the German Slate Museum is housed in the complex. It not only provides information about all aspects of the Eifel, but also about the building material slate , with which all the roofs of the castle are covered. This also includes the tunnel system under the castle in the castle rock , which is designed as a museum as a slate mine . In addition, the Genovevaburg is home to the Eifel library, which has more than 10,000 volumes. This regional and local history specialist library is run jointly by the Eifelverein and the Mayener History and Antiquity Association and is open to anyone interested.

Every year from the end of May to the end of August, the courtyard of the Genoveva Castle is the backdrop for the Mayen Castle Festival , a series of theater events known far beyond the city limits.

description

View from the southwest

Mayen's castle and the market square to the north form the center of the city. The now irregularly heptagonal complex was once secured by a neck ditch , kennel and keep on the side facing away from the city. Today a main road runs through the neck ditch. It is spanned by a Gothic arched stone bridge about 20 meters long.

The crenellated keep received as the castle following the Genoveva forecast its name: Goloturm . It is 34 meters high and has 3.70 meters thick walls in the basement with a diameter of 10.34 meters. In its domed basement there used to be a dungeon . Two prison cells on the ground floor are guaranteed, in which not only criminals and unpleasant political opponents were held, sources from the 16th century also report of women found guilty of witchcraft awaiting execution there. The tower can be climbed as a viewing tower during the opening hours of the Eifel Museum . Access is through the museum either with an elevator or stairs to the second level, from there via several steps to the battlement and the spiral staircase in the tower.

In the place of today's baroque residential building, on the north side of the complex, there used to be the main residential building, which covered the entire width of the core castle . Opposite it were probably farm buildings in the south.

A castle chapel is documented from 1362 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Genovevaburg  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gustav Sixel, Richard Hartmann, Hans-Lothar Hochstrate: A history of the Protestant church community Mayen. Self-published, Mayen 1996.
  2. ↑ Michael Losse: High Eifel and Ahr Valley. 57 castles and palaces. 2003, p. 65.
  3. ↑ Inventory information on the Eifel library from the Mayen History and Antiquity Association , accessed on January 22, 2020.
  4. ↑ Angela Pfotenhauer, Elmar Lixenfeld: Eifel (= Monument Edition. Volume 12). German Foundation for Monument Protection , Bonn 2013, ISBN 978-3-86795-068-8 , p. 40.
  5. ^ Website of the city of Mayen with information on Genovevaburg , accessed on January 22, 2020.
  6. ↑ a b c Michael Losse: High Eifel and Ahr Valley. 57 castles and palaces. 2003, p. 62.
  7. ↑ Genovevaburg Mayen on burgenroute.de ( Memento from August 30, 2018 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 50 ° 19 ′ 34 ″  N , 7 ° 13 ′ 16.6 ″  E