House Villigst

House Villigst, main house

Staircase in the main house

Gate entrance and inner courtyard

The Villigst house in the Villigst district of the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Schwerte is the seat of the Evangelical Student Services Villigst and the Evangelical Academy Villigst .

history

Originally there was a manor at the same place , which is supposedly mentioned in a document as early as 1170. The knight Sobbo de Svirte († 1322) lived here around 1300 .

The building was later owned by the von Elverfeldt family for centuries . Ludwig Gisbert von Elverfeldt combined with Haus Herbede and Haus Villigst as well as Haus Blumenau and Haus Berghofen the entire property of the Protestant Elverfeldter line and had today's Haus Villigst built in the classicistic style in 1819 . His son Ludwig also bought Haus Ruhr near Wandhofen in 1869 and from 1882 Haus Kotten . After Ludwig's childless death, the entire property fell to Viktor Freiherr von Rheinbaben . His daughter Elisabeth Freiin von Rheinbaben (1880–1960) married Hans Dietrich Freiherr von Gemmingen -steinegg (1869–1958) and brought the property of Haus Villigst into the marriage.

In 1948 the house and park of the estate were leased to the Evangelical Church of Westphalia , while the associated arable land had been leased to farmers in the area for a long time and the forestry remained with the owners. In 1960 the property passed by inheritance to the son Hans-Werner von Gemmingen-Steinegg (1916–1961). After his accidental death, the widow Marta administered the property, in 1977 she transferred her property to her son Hans Helmut von Gemmingen-Steinegg. A cemetery of the landlords formerly located in the forest was closed after several cases of vandalism, the gravestones were partially moved to the park of Haus Villigst.

In addition to the conference rooms, the Evangelical Church also set up the EKvW Pedagogical Institute in Haus Villigst in 1953. Other facilities in the house include the institute for training, further education and training, the office for youth work of the Evangelical Church of Westphalia and the Evangelische Studienwerk eV

literature

Kristina Krüger: House Villigst . In: Ministry for Building and Transport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia / Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (Hrsg.): Burgen AufRuhr. On the way to 100 castles, palaces and mansions in the Ruhr region . Editor: Kai Niederhöfer. Essen: Klartext Verlag, 2010, pp. 374–377.

Maria Heitland: Family chronicle of the barons of Gemmingen. Continuation of the chronicles from 1895 and 1925/26 , Elztal 1991.