Giechburg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Giechburg
Giechburg June 2007.JPG
Alternative name (s): Giech Castle
Creation time : First mentioned in 1125
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Half ruin
Place: Scheßlitz -Giechburg
Geographical location 49 ° 57 '18 "  N , 11 ° 2' 58"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 57 '18 "  N , 11 ° 2' 58"  E
Height: 530  m above sea level NN
Giechburg (Bavaria)
Giechburg

The Giechburg , also called Burg Giech , is the ruin of a hilltop castle in the area of ​​the town of Scheßlitz in the Bamberg district in Bavaria . Giechburg is also part of the municipality in the Zeckendorf district of the city of Scheßlitz.

history

Early history

Settlement of the Giechburg Plateau can be traced back to the Neolithic , with a particular intensification of settlement activity during the Celtic period between 500 BC. And the birth of Christ took place. Below the castle, near Demmelsdorf , a barrow field from the late Hallstatt period was found. The chariot burial of a Celtic princess was found in a burial chamber with numerous pieces of jewelry, including a golden spiral ring and an amber bead, as well as ceramics.

Uninterrupted use of the prehistoric fortifications is also likely during the Migration Period .

Medieval castle complex

The construction of the medieval castle took place under the powerful Schweinfurt counts , probably around the time of the devastating Hungarian invasions in the 10th century. For this purpose, the western third of the plateau was separated by a deep neck ditch , with the remaining fortifications still in existence until the 12th century ( munitiones ante castrum sitam ).

From then on, the castle served as a link between the royal courts of Hallstadt and Königsfeld on the Jura heights . The castle was first mentioned in a document in 1125 in a deed of donation from Bishop Otto I the Holy , in which Wilhelm von Lützelburg , second husband of Margravine Mechthilde von Meißen, appears as a witness under the name Willehalm, liber homo de giche . Their daughter from their first marriage, Adela von Beichlingen , married Count Reginboto from Wertheim , who held a high office at the Bamberg court and called himself comes de gicheburc after his married property. In 1137, Chuniza , his only child, brought the Giech hereditary estate to the Andechs Count's House by marriage . In 1142, her marriage to Count Poppo I of Andechs was separated because the two spouses were too closely related and Chuniza bequeathed her inheritance to the Bamberg Monastery . However, the count managed to force the entire property to be enfeoffed by force of arms.

Succession dispute

View of the castle complex

After the death of the last Duke Otto II of Andechs-Meranien in 1248, a grueling succession dispute that lasted for years followed, with the takeover of Giech Castle and its surrounding area, which included the current eastern district of Bamberg, by the Count House of Truhendingen , which is related to the Meranians ended. It remained there until 1390, when Bishop Lamprecht von Brunn finally managed to buy the original fiefdom for a large sum from the heavily indebted count.

Under the aegis of the Bamberg bishops , the neglected castle was formidably expanded (1421–31 and 1431–59), including with artillery roundels, so that it was considered the safest place in the entire bishopric during the dreaded Hussite incursions . Two roundabouts now also protect the main gate. One spent under Friedrich III. von Aufseß took the cathedral treasure there and part of the cathedral chapter went to safety there. The cathedral treasure remained there well beyond the time of the Bamberg immunity dispute, while the surrounding villages and the neighboring Gügel Castle were devastated by the Hussites.

Peasant uprising

Giechburg in winter

During the peasant revolts in 1525, a delegation of peasants succeeded by deception to capture the castle and set fire to it, but without endangering the castle's substance. It was not until 1553 that the castle was abandoned after several days of siege by the troops of Margrave Albrecht Alcibiades and, on his orders, plundered and set on fire.

Reconstruction of the castle as a renaissance castle

Main entrance of the Giechburg
patio
The increased coat of arms of Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Gebsattel above the main gate

During the reign of Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Gebsattel (1599–1609), the ruinous castle was rebuilt as a renaissance castle with the inclusion of the medieval fortifications and furnished in a princely manner. Gebsattel had the roundels of the 15th century replaced by larger ones with stepped arrow slits and shooting slots for muskets. The mountain fortress had lost its military importance because it was just a well-fortified Renaissance castle in an exposed location. Gebsattel shied away from the immense construction costs for a contemporary, bastioned fortress. The Rosenberg fortresses in Kronach and Forchheim , built on the French model, took over this function from then on. The Giechschloss now served as the administrative headquarters of the Giech Care Department and the location for the prince-bishops' annual hunting trips. It remained completely unmolested during the Thirty Years' War , while there was no house in Scheßlitz .

When the administrative headquarters were relocated there with the reconstruction of the official building in Scheßlitz, the palace only served as a location for the prince-bishop's foal rearing. When this was relocated to the newly built Fohlenhof in Peulendorf, the castle was the official residence of a forest official, who was also responsible for monitoring the fire in the entire area. The maintenance of the facilities was limited to the bare minimum; the decline began.

Iron basket puzzle

An iron basket hangs on the tower of Bamberg's Altenburg , which is said to have been used earlier to transmit fire signals to Giechburg, 20 kilometers from Bamberg. There is no evidence of a similar facility on the Giechburg and is not found in the building editions of the fb. Caste Office Mention in other documented history. Since the practical use of such a facility also appears highly doubtful, it is most likely a romanticizing attribute for the Altenburg, which was rebuilt in the style of historicism in the 19th century.

Recent history

Colored picture of Giechburg 1935

With the secularization of the bishopric, the properties around the castle were sold separately. After the barbaric demolition measures of Hohenhausen in 1809, which rapidly accelerated a process of decay, the state of construction of the castle became increasingly desolate. In 1819, Count Friedrich Karl Herrmann von Giech zu Thurnau acquired the castle from the Kingdom of Bavaria without any fundamental changes. In 1932 the last Count von Giech sold the castle to Leonhard Schmaus, a postal worker, whose grandson sold the property to Friedrich Karl Hohmann in 1962.

In his travel guide about Bamberg and the surrounding area from around 1912, the author Dietrich Amende also describes the city of Scheßlitz:

“Immediately south of Scheßlitz rises the mighty ruins of the Giech Castle. The elongated row of windows, through which the blue sky now shines, and the huge keep herald the former strength of the castle, which was destroyed in the Hussite Wars. From the castle courtyard (restaurant) there is a wonderful panoramic view. Just north of Giech, leaning against the rock, is the interesting fortified church of Gügel . "

- Dietrich Amende : Bamberg and Franconia. Bamberg undated (around 1912)

The castle today

In order to secure the continued existence of the facilities, the Friends of Giechburg e. V. founded and the first noteworthy renovation work initiated. With the takeover of the castle complex by the Bamberg district in 1971, the association dissolved and under the care of the district administration began a comprehensive renovation program and expansion as a conference location and cultural event center for the Bamberg district. In addition, the castle offers a restaurant and accommodation.

The Franconian Marienweg runs past the castle .

Description of location and construction

Round tower of the external fortifications

The castle is located on the western end of a rocky Jura crest in a spur , visible from afar above the valley. The third section of the plateau in the east of the ridge marks the location of an episcopal counter-castle from the first half of the 12th century. This house of the bishop probably fell victim to the armed conflicts during the Meran inheritance dispute. On the mountain plateau, three trenches can be seen in the terrain. The smaller sub-area between the built-up areas was contractually secured as the area to be kept free from any development. At the eastern edge of the plateau, which was inhabited in its entire area in prehistoric times, a small remnant of a wall can still be seen. From the high medieval castle, the lower part of the keep and a wall under the former several meters thick and about five meters high eastern shield wall have been preserved, as well as the largest part of the wall ring, which after the takeover of the castle by the Bamberg bishopric in 1390 was expanded and expanded was reinforced. The castle was then considered so defensive that the Bamberg cathedral treasure was brought to safety here during the threats of the Hussite period and the Bamberg immunity dispute. The medieval residential and farm buildings were destroyed in 1553.

The core castle in its current form goes back to the building activities of Prince Bishop Johann Philipp von Gebsattel in the years 1602 to 1609. The two wings in the south and west have now been modernized and are used as a castle restaurant and conference venue for the district administration. The long north wing with its numerous window openings became a ruin in two sections in the early 19th century. In the east, a round, also ruinous stair tower jumps out of the wall. Only a two-storey bay window in the west of the courtyard above the cellar entrance is well preserved and is crowned by a simple Renaissance tail gable. Next to it is the 40 meter deep well that was excavated after 1390. The narrow wing in the south also comes from the Gebsattel three-wing complex and once housed the castle chapel and the partly half-timbered stables, which were also abandoned. A previously existing second floor had to be completely demolished at the beginning of the 20th century due to its dilapidation. This cavalier building , attributed in some publications to Prince-Bishop Marquard Sebastian von Stauffenberg , can be traced back to a report by the Hofkammerrat von Roppel, who wrote it in 1785, around a hundred years later. There is no evidence of this in the existing building bills of the caste office, nor was there any reason for such a building project at that time.

Gargoyles

The mighty square keep (12.5 × 12.5 meters) stands free in the eastern part of the castle. The large tower is placed across the corner and thus offered the medieval catapults and throwing machines less attack surface. The base area still shows the small-scale ashlar masonry of the high medieval castle complex in some areas. Originally, like the shield wall in front of it, it was probably closed by a half-timbered structure, there was a barrel vault in the basement and the chimney system for a heated tower room has been preserved in one of the upper floors. The only high entrance that existed in the High Middle Ages is on the northeast side. The arched portal at ground level was redesigned during the renovation phase of the Gebsattelzeit, as was the access on the west side, which connected the north wing on the upper floor, which houses the apartments of the prince-bishop, with the keep via a covered wooden bridge. The slightly recessed, rectangular windowed upper floor also dates from this time. The keep was previously covered with a slate-covered Italian hood .

Originally one entered the castle area through the abandoned outer gate at the beginning of the western defensive wall, which also included a gatehouse. A window opening still indicates this. The Outer Zwinger, formerly reinforced with loopholes, is located in front of the Gothic or Middle Gate in the west . At the north-west bastion between the two gates there was once a coat of arms of Bishop Friedrich III. von Aufseß (1421–1431). The coats of arms of the bishops Anton von Rotenhan (1431–1459) and Georg I von Schaumberg (1459–1475) can be seen above the archway of the middle gate . Behind it is the Inner Zwinger with the former gatekeeper corridor on the back of the defunct loopholes wall to the north-west tower. A sandstone plaque with the coat of arms of Bishop Johann Philipp von Gebsattel (1599–1609) is embedded above the rustic portal of the adjoining main gate. A possible relocation of the castle entrance from the east of the castle to the western part goes back to an idea of ​​the castle researcher Hellmut Kunstmann , but is neither proven by the existing building bills nor was there ever a reason to make the castle safe by accessing the endangered area of ​​the level plateau in the east to question. The eastern part of the castle was cordoned off from the beginning by the high shield wall and the keep.

view

View from the Giechburg

When the weather is good, you can enjoy a good view of the Bamberg region as far as Thuringia , with the following viewpoints from west to east being named on a board in the castle:

Say

The castle is u. a. Location of the legend of the Freudeneck dwarf .

literature

  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments: Franconia. 2nd Edition. Munich 1999. ISBN 3-422-03051-4 .
  • Friedrich Karl Hohmann: Giech - stations of a mountain festival . Bamberg 1991.
  • Friedrich Karl Hohmann: Days in the Wind - A Franconian Castle Fate. BoD-Verlag Norderstedt, ISBN 978-3-8370-2414-2 .
  • Ludwig Lunz: The Giechburg . Bamberg Otto-Verlag, Bamberg undated, around 1930.
  • Bruno Neundorfer: The Giechburg, Bamberg district. Bamberg 1976.
  • Hans Paschke: The Giechburg in its heyday under Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Gebsattel (1599-1609) and the reconstruction of the Schlüsselau Monastery . In: 111th report of the historical association for the maintenance of the history of the former prince-bishopric of Bamberg. Bamberg 1975, pp. 329-346.
  • Wilhelm Rath: Small history of the Giechburg . Bamberg 1985.

Web links

Commons : Giechburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Gich in the Topographia Franconiae (Matthäus Merian)  - sources and full texts