House Demmin

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House Demmin
Ruin of the castle tower after the renovation

Ruin of the castle tower after the renovation

Alternative name (s): Old castle; Castrum dimin
Creation time : 1127 first mentioned
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: Castle ruins
Standing position : Fürstenburg, mansion
Place: Demmin
Geographical location 53 ° 54 '0 "  N , 13 ° 2' 1"  E Coordinates: 53 ° 54 '0 "  N , 13 ° 2' 1"  E
House Demmin (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania)
House Demmin

The name Haus Demmin refers to the ruins of a Pomeranian princely castle ( moated castle ) and a manor house southeast of the Hanseatic city of Demmin on an island at the confluence of the Tollense and the Peene . The castle ruins are the oldest preserved secular building in Pomerania and are considered the “cradle” of this region.

Castle

As early as the 8th century, there was a Yavian castle wall on the island . In 1127 it was first mentioned in writing as "Old Castle". The complex, equipped with impressive walls, covers about 1 hectare and originally consisted of a main castle and an outer castle. This was assigned as a night camp to Bishop Otto von Bamberg on his mission trip in 1128 , who also met the Pomeranian Duke Wartislaw I here . The castle was expanded further in the 12th century. The core building, built in the manner of a round donjon made of brick , was dated to the time around 1200 in a building historical assessment and is thus the oldest secular building in Pomerania. Until the death of Wartislaw III. In 1264 the dukes of Pomerania-Demmin resided here .

The Slavic castle complex was razed to the ground in 1164 after the victory of Henry the Lion over Pomerania and the Obodrites . It is mentioned in a document in 1170 as Feste Demmin ( castrum Dimin ). Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa reported on the rebuilt castle and described it as an excellent and famous festival. In 1177 it was finally destroyed after a siege by Henry the Lion. The defense tower was built by the Danes in 1211 . In 1236 it was expanded into a ducal castle, which in 1620 consisted of, among other things, several gatehouses, a royal stables, residential building with a dance hall and three vaulted cellars, a brewery, court stables, barn, granary and herb garden. Until the death of Duke Wartislaw III. (1264) the castle was the preferred ducal residence. After that, his land fell to Barnim I, Duke of Stettin, and Demmin's house was given up as a ducal residence, but existed as a sizable aristocratic residence until 1648. In the late Middle Ages, the area for a fortified tower - still recognizable as a ruin - with the so-called Fixed house separated from the main castle by a deep moat.

In the main division of the Duchy of Pomerania from 1295, House Demmin came to Pomerania-Stettin, but the city of Demmin to Pommern-Wolgast. House Demmin was the center of a ducal bailiwick until the end of the 15th century and served as the seat of the bailiffs. It was also an important customs post at the confluence of the Peene and Tollense rivers just before the state border with Mecklenburg.

The ducal councilor Peter Podewils received Haus Demmin from Duke Bogislaw X. first as a pledge, then in 1512 as a fief . During the Thirty Years War , the castle was fought over by Swedish and Imperial troops until it burned down in 1631, with the exception of the tower. This was blown up in 1648 by the later famous Swedish fortress builder Erik Dahlberg - then still Erik Jönson. On the orders of the Swedish city commandant of Demmin, Colonel von Mardefelt , the remaining fortifications were then razed and the houses demolished. With the exception of the pitiful stump of the defense tower and the ruins of the castle from the second quarter of the 19th century, there are no more parts of the building left today.

The Podewils had previously taken up residence in neighboring Sanzkow . Later a branch of the family returned to the neighboring village of Vorwerk . The area of ​​the castle ramparts remained uninhabited until the middle of the 19th century.

A walling up of the castle ruins to protect the culturally and historically valuable medieval building fabric from further deterioration was carried out in summer 2008 on behalf of the city of Demmin. From a monument conservation point of view, the result of this emergency measure has been heavily criticized. In the past centuries, attempts were made to secure the ruins permanently, so that many of the wall sections that are visible today do not belong to the original substance.

When the upper foundation areas were uncovered, it was found that the northern and southern parts of the west facade in the lower four exposed brick layers were curved convexly . On the north side, the swing already begins at the north corner, the wall swings back slightly and then again more forcefully, only to end sharply in the area in front of a niche in the newly exposed area. The southern part is longer and therefore less curved. The southwest corner has probably been completely renewed, because here the cantilevered stones of the oscillation only appear after eight stones that have been bricked in a straight line, i.e. later replaced. The higher brick layers ignore the concave shape and move straight from corner to corner. So they belong to a more recent construction phase. A similar finding can be found on the north and east facade. The field stone foundations and, in some cases, the bricks built on top of them form a double convex shape that meets east of the center in a tapering end. As on the west side, these remains of the wall belong to a late medieval building phase, most of which was removed before the modern fortifications were built.

The south facade, on the other hand, has been changed so much by later renovations that no concave wall sections can be found here. However, it can be assumed that the same wall shapes existed here as well. The round interior that exists today was not created until later. Originally, its design was based on the outer wall of the tower. The reconstruction of the tower results in an octagonal, star-shaped floor plan. Octagonal buildings appear again and again in the castle architecture, the most prominent example of this is Castel del Monte, a Sicilian castle of Frederick II with attached round towers. However, the curved wall shell that distinguishes House Demmin is missing here. The unusual floor plan of the oldest masonry part of the complex shows the great importance that the late medieval to modern castle complex Haus Demmin had for the development of the Hanseatic city of Demmin and its surroundings until its decline after the Thirty Years War .

Mansion

In 1840 the Podewils family had a manor house built in the late classicist style, which was modeled on French baroque castles. In 1881 it became the property of the von Rohr family until they were expropriated in 1945. From 1948 to 1986 the facility served as a boarding school and school.

In 1991 the house of the von Rohr family was transferred back. In 1998 the building burned down to the outer walls. The extinguishing work was hampered by severe frost. After the new bridge over the Tollense had been built and the ruins had been secured, the property returned to the Hanseatic City of Demmin. In 2006, in the form of a diploma thesis, a usage concept was presented as the administrative headquarters for a planned Peenetal Foundation National Park. The Demmin house was offered for sale by the Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania economic development agency (“Invest in MV”) at the Expo Real 2016 real estate fair . However, strict requirements make it difficult to sell. In 2020 the state government plans to invest up to 100,000 euros in a feasibility study for the revitalization of the ruinous mansion and the area. The goal is a concept with sustainable use.

The mansion was a three-and-a-half storey plastered building with two two-storey side wings. The walls are decorated with plaster . There are straight or flat arched roofs above the window openings on the upper floors. The roofs were covered by parapets . A balcony on tall pillars in front of the third floor is preserved in ruins. In one room there were painted wallpaper depicting the Podewils Castle in Crangen and the new manor house.

  • Location of the House of Demmin on a city map from 1758

  • Ruin of the castle tower before the renovation

  • Wallpaper with Crangen Castle in "Haus Demmin"

  • Manor house "Haus Demmin" 1970

  • Manor house "Haus Demmin" 1985 (walled up)

  • House Demmin, back side (2010)

  • Ruins of the manor house "Haus Demmin" 2014

  • House Demmin, park side (2014)

House Demmin is the birthplace of Hansjoachim von Rohr (1888–1971), German politician ( DNVP ). He was the last owner of Haus Demmin, Vorwerk and Lindenfelde.

literature

  • Wolfgang Fuhrmann: The Hanseatic City of Demmin in old and new views . GEROS Verlag, Neubrandenburg 1998, ISBN 3-935721-00-5 .
  • Hubertus Neuschäffer: Western Pomerania's castles and mansions . Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, 1993, ISBN 3-88042-636-8 .
  • Dirk Schleinert : House Demmin through the ages. On the history of a mansion complex in Pomerania . In: Pomerania. Journal of Culture and History. 40th Jg. (2002), Issue 1, ISSN  0032-4167 , pp. 2-9.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gunnar Möller: Noble castles and fortifications in the Demmin area In: border region between Pomerania and Mecklenburg. Vol. 1: Lectures 1997–1999. Thomas Helms Verlag, Schwerin 2000, ISBN 3-931185-63-X , p. 49.
  2. ↑ From Slavs and Germans - The castle complex Haus Demmin. Retrieved February 4, 2020 .
  3. ^ Sabine Bock : From anonymous builders to famous architects. Your work between Malchin, Altentreptow and Demmin , in: Border region between Pomerania and Mecklenburg, 7 (publications of the Demminer Regional Museum eV) Thomas Helms Verlag Schwerin 2011, ISBN 978-3-940207-65-4 , p. 15.
  4. ↑ From Slavs and Germans - The castle complex Haus Demmin. Retrieved February 4, 2020 .
  5. ↑ Hanseatic City of Demmin: Castle "Haus Demmin". In: Website of the Hanseatic City of Demmin. Hanseatic City of Demmin, April 29, 2019, accessed on April 29, 2019 .
  6. ^ Haus Demmin: Vorpommern's cradle is looking for a buyer , Nordkurier , September 27, 2016
  7. ^ "Cradle of Western Pomerania": Land gives money for a new study on House Demmin. In: Nordkurier.de. January 26, 2020, accessed January 30, 2020 .
  8. ^ Institute for Monument Preservation (Ed.): The architectural and art monuments in the GDR. Neubrandenburg district. Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin 1982, pp. 91–92.

Web links

Commons : Haus Demmin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files