Hohenbeilstein

Hohenbeilstein
	Hohenbeilstein Castle
Creation time :	around 1000 to 1100
Castle type :	Hilltop castle
Conservation status:	Received or received substantial parts
Standing position :	Count
Place:	Beilstein
Geographical location	49 ° 2 '28 " N , 9 ° 19' 2" E Coordinates: 49 ° 2 '28 " N , 9 ° 19' 2" E

Hohenbeilstein is a hilltop castle on a hill above the town of Beilstein on the southern edge of the Heilbronn district in Baden-Württemberg .

history

Hohenbeilstein Castle above Beilstein, view around 1900

Its origins are in the 11th century; the oldest components still visible today date from the 13th century. The keep and the ring wall have matching stonemason's marks, which are also found in a similar form on the castles of Lichtenberg, Helfenberg, Liebenstein and Neipperg, so that the castle in Beilstein was built in the same expansion period as the aforementioned castles. Originally probably built by the Counts of Calw , the castle seems to have been in the possession of the Margraves of Baden in the 13th century, then came to the Counts of Württemberg , then temporarily to the Counts of Tübingen-Asperg and around 1340 permanently to Württemberg . In the following years it was besieged and destroyed several times, including by rebellious farmers in 1525 and in the Palatinate War of Succession (1688 to 1697) by the French.

In the early days of Württemberg , the castle was the seat of the Württemberg bailiff before official buildings were erected halfway between the castle and town in the late 15th century. The official buildings fell victim to the fire in the town in 1693 by French troops in the Palatinate War of Succession and were relocated to the town center by the town hall during the reconstruction in 1699. The castle and the old official buildings then lived as ruins or as poorly restored warehouse buildings.

When the new administrative structure in the Kingdom of Württemberg was implemented , Hohenbeilstein was assigned to the Marbach Oberamt like Beilstein in 1810 .

The castle remained in the possession of the Württemberg state before it was acquired in 1836 by the senior consistorial councilor Immanuel Niethammer (1766–1848) for 600 guilders.

In 1898 the entrepreneur Robert Vollmöller bought the castle for 10,000 marks. In the following years he bought numerous other surrounding plots of land on the castle hill. The restoration of parts of the complex and the construction of the Lower Palace , which was built on the foundations of the former office building, in the years 1906–1908 according to plans by Albert Benz, go back to him. Benz, supported by the castle researcher Otto Piper and the architect Bodo Ebhardt, was also designated as the lead architect for the complete reconstruction of the castle. In the course of his investments and activities in Beilstein, however, Vollmöller suffered less and less. The vineyard workers feared competition and the city fathers did not want to get used to the idea of a Vollmöller factory in Beilstein. The cavalier building of the castle, which had been restored as a shell, as well as some other structures within the complex fell victim to an arson in 1908. Vollmöller continued to plan to restore the castle and had a book by August Holder about Hohenbeilstein and its history published in 1911 , which also included numerous photos of the lordly Lower Castle (which is essentially based on the little castle in Höpfigheim ) as examples of a successful construction in the style of early modern castle architecture and as a foretaste of the planned reconstruction of the castle. But in 1911, when the book was published, Vollmöller died of a vascular disease, so that further reconstruction of the castle was not carried out.

investment

The castle today consists of the so-called "Langhans", a 28 meter high, pentagonal keep that can be climbed as a lookout tower , a 2.5 meter thick shield wall and several outbuildings in the area of the outer bailey , which are now used as a falconry and restaurant . The original palace is not received, today's restaurant building is a building of Albert Benz.

Side walls lead from the castle down to the city, some of which are still original. The tower at the end of the southern side wall , the gates in the walls, the gatehouse of the outer ring wall and the roofs of the two round towers are also reconstructions by Albert Benz.

literature

Royal statistical-topographical bureau: Description of the Marbach Oberamt. Stuttgart 1866, pp. 165-170.
August Holder : Hohenbeilstein in History , Stuttgart 1911.
Julius Fekete : Art and cultural monuments in the city and district of Heilbronn. 2nd Edition. Theiss, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8062-1662-2 , p. 114.
Hermann Ehmer: From the Amthof to the factory owner's villa and the house of the children's church , in: Geschichtsblätter aus dem Bottwartal , No. 9. 2004, pp. 16–24 (on Vollmöller's building activity).

Web links

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