Kolvenburg

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Aerial view of the Kolvenburg

The Kolvenburg , sometimes also spelled Colvenburg, is a former moated castle on the upper reaches of the Berkel in the south of the city center of Billerbeck in the Coesfeld district . The Hameren house is almost in sight, 1.3 kilometers southwest .

The Kolvenburg is a typical former residence of the lower nobility in the Münsterland , whose political and economic importance was only local. Over the course of its history, it was rebuilt and expanded several times, and the aristocratic owners only used the castle as a residence until around the middle of the 16th century, after which it was only leased.

Today's building is in the early Renaissance style and in its current form dates from the 15th and 16th centuries, but its roots lie in a tower castle that was built by the Knights of Billerbeck in the 13th century. The system came to the Voet family via the von Colve family, which gave it its name, and from them to the von Münster family . The castle then changed hands several times through marriage before the von Twickel family became owners in the 19th century. She has leased the Kolvenburg to the Coesfeld district since 1966 , which uses it as one of two district cultural centers.

history

Residents and owners

Local tradition ascribes the founding of Kolvenburg to Charlemagne , who settled the Colve family there to defend Christianity. However, this is only a legend that has its origins in the late Middle Ages . The actual history of the Kolvenburg begins with its construction in the 13th century by the Knights of Billerbeck. It was the successor to a moth that stood south of today's castle site. Until about 1246 it was allodial property of Sweder von Billerbeck, who is mentioned several times in documents between 1120 and 1246. The castle used the moored bed of the Berkel in the north and east as natural protection, while in the south it was reinforced with a deep dry moat. At that time it was called Overwater ( Latin trans aquas ), presumably because the Berkel was dammed into an elongated pond near the castle.

The von Billerbeck family probably died out or emigrated in the second half of the 13th century. It was followed in 1309 by the von Colve family from the Sauerland . Presumably the complex came into their possession by inheritance. In 1322 Gottfried and Adolf von Colve were named as owners. The family also died out with Adolf's son Engelbert, the last time he was mentioned in a document from 1354. The von Holthausen family was their successor; whether through purchase or marriage is unclear. However, it did not remain the owner for long, because as early as 1383 the castle belonged to Roleff Voet, who used it as a permanent residence. He enlarged the Hovesaat , which was probably self-employed, by purchasing neighboring properties. The castle was named Voetshus after his family from the end of the 14th / beginning of the 15th century. While the Voets were lords of the castle, the Münster collegiate feud took place, in the course of which the Kolvenburg was occupied by the Johann von Hoya party in order to take actions against the Moers party from there . It is not yet known whether this was done with the support of the Voet family.

When Florike Voet died childless at the end of the 15th century, the property passed through Blideke Voet to her son Gottfried (Godeke) von Münster at the latest in 1494. The system owes its name, which is common today, to him. In order to be able to enforce the rights he claimed in court, Gottfried had a pamphlet written in which he named his Colvenburg castle because he mistakenly believed the Colve family to be the first owner. This name became common during the 16th century. After Gottfried von Münster, first his son Wolter, then Balthasar von Münster, was the owner. The latter left the castle to his sister Gosta (also Gostina). In 1549 she brought the property to her husband Bernd von Oer zu Kakesbeck , governor of Münster. After his death, the Kolvenburg fell to his two daughters Johanna and Katharina, who fought over their shares and tried unsuccessfully to sell them independently in 1567. With Ludger von Raesfeld , the first prospective buyer jumped out because the asking price was too high for him. Negotiations in 1578 with the cathedral scholaster Conrad von Westerholt and in 1579 with Everdt von Diepenbrock were also unsuccessful. Finally, on June 21, 1587, Johanna bought her share from her sister for 9,000  gold guilders . At that time the family no longer lived in and managed the castle complex themselves, but leased it and had it managed by this tenant.

The Kolvenburg in the Rhenish-Westphalian original cadastre

When Johanna's death, her children from their marriage to Philip II von Viermund zu Bladenhorst could not agree on the inheritance. The inheritance dispute was carried to the Reich Chamber of Commerce in Speyer . In the course of this dispute, Johanna's daughter Agnes von Viermund and her husband Dietrich von der Recke sold the Kolvenburg in 1631 to Johann Heidenreich von Voerden, but this business was reversed in 1639. Via Johanna's son Philipp Arnold and his brother Hermann, the plant finally came to Hermann's sister Anna Theodora von Viermund, who was married to Caspar von Romberg zu Brünninghausen and brought him the property. His family remained the owners for over 100 years. After the Seven Years' War , the von Rombergs began to gradually sell their Billerbecker property. By marrying a daughter, the remainder of the property came as trousseau in the 1880s to the Leipzig judge Forcarde de Biaix, who sold it in 1892/193, including 300  acres of land, to Baron von Twickel on the neighboring house of Hameren. The Kolvenburg still belongs to his family.

Building history

Today's Kolvenburg was created through ten-phase expansion and reconstruction of a small tower castle. A previous system existed a little further south. Their place later served as the outer bailey .

The first building in the 13th century was a two-storey, tower-like building with a basement and access on the east side. A castle courtyard probably already existed at that time, which was surrounded by a 4.5 meter high defensive wall. In a second construction phase, an extension with two low storeys was added to the tower on the north side and a castle courtyard was now surrounded by a wall. This extension was later enlarged to its present length. A part of the surrounding wall of the courtyard served as the outer wall . The two existing floors were combined into a high room with its current height by removing the beam ceiling . This was closed off by a gable roof , the gable of which is still recognizable today from the northern outer wall. In this third construction phase at the latest, the first floor of the tower building was given an exit to the courtyard. After completing all the work in this third expansion step, the Kolvenburg was a typical medieval two-room house.

In a fourth phase, the original tower building was given another upper floor before the northeastern extension was raised to the same height. In a sixth step, the north-east building received a low, single-storey extension on its west side, which was later extended to the western defensive wall and provided with a gable roof. In order to take into account additional space requirements and to preserve the small, not yet built-up castle courtyard, the newest part of the castle was increased with an upper floor at the level of the remaining castle tracts. In a ninth construction phase, the rest of the castle courtyard was also built over. Subsequently, all previous roofs were removed and the current roof structure was built for a joint hipped roof . The Kolvenburg had thus achieved its definitive shape that is still preserved today. Then only a renaissance bay window was installed on the gate of the complex. This also resulted in the relocation of the access from the east side to the current location on the south side of the castle, including the construction of a new drawbridge . Because after the completion of this tenth construction phase, the Kolvenburg was no longer used as a noble residence, but only leased, so no further structural changes were made to the exterior. Although the interior was expanded further after 1587, this renovation was probably never fully completed.

After a long period of decay, the castle building was in a very precarious structural condition in the 1950s. To save it from final ruin, lengthy restoration work began in 1958 . At the same time, building history studies were carried out on the building. During the gradual restoration, the Kolvenburg received a new roof covering and a new reinforced concrete cellar ceiling . In addition, the outer masonry was stabilized. The work carried out until 1975 cost around one million marks, most of which was financed with federal, state and district funds. In addition, there was money from the city of Billerbeck, the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe and the von Twickel family. From the end of 1975, the structural security was followed by the interior work for future use as a cultural center, which was opened in September of the following year.

Todays use

The von Twickel family leased the Kolvenburg in 1966 to the Coesfeld district, which set up a cultural center there after many years of restoration. The ceremonial opening was on September 18, 1976. Since then, concerts, lectures, discussions and temporary exhibitions on modern and classical art have taken place there regularly . In the past, international artists such as Albrecht Dürer , Pablo Picasso , Marc Chagall , Käthe Kollwitz or Joseph Beuys , but also local artists from North Rhine-Westphalia, including Otto Pankok , were presented there. Furthermore, a spring and an Advent market are among the regular events in the castle, which is also used by the Billerbeck registry office as a branch.

description

Aerial view of the Kolvenburg and its surroundings
View of the Kolvenburg from the southeast

The Niederungsburg is in the south of Billerbeck on the road to Darup . The fact that it is a former moated castle testifies to its former moat , which can still be seen today as a valley basin on the castle grounds. On the north and west side, the facility was protected by the marshy terrain of the Berkelauen, in the south a dry trench separated it from a piece of land that was slightly raised and had a round floor plan. It was the location of the predecessor plant, a moth, whose castle hill was changed drastically with a bulldozer during the restoration work in the 1960s and 1970s. When exploring the grounds of the neighboring school, the archaeologists found two concentric rings of moats that surrounded the entire complex. In earlier times the Kolvenburg had a multiple ditch system.

In addition to the main house that has been preserved, the castle complex also had an outer bailey with farm buildings. A Bauhaus, a shed and a gatehouse are attested for the year 1735, but none of them have survived.

The Kolvenburg is the result of a multi-phase expansion and renovation and in its current form dates from the 16th century. But in it are the older remains of a tower and a two-room house. Its two storeys made of brick and quarry stone with house integration rise on an almost square outline. The high hipped roof is covered with red roof tiles. Its oak roof structure is still original from the 16th century. The cross-frame windows identify the building as a structure from the transition from the late Gothic to the early Renaissance.

Due to its compactness, the building makes a massive impression, which is underlined by the unadorned exterior. Its eastern part has a cellar. At the south corner there is a small two-storey extension that used to be a gateway to the castle. The former gate is now closed by a bay window with a pent roof . It rests on three console stones . The two storeys of the extension are optically separated from each other on the outside by a Gothic water hammer. The two-story gable of the main building is also divided by water hammer.

Inside, the traces of the various construction phases are clearly visible through the exposed brickwork. A chimney on the ground floor dated to 1596 shows that the interior design was not finally completed, even many years after the end of the last construction phase.

literature

  • Josef Bieker: On still waters. Castles in the Münsterland. 4th edition. Harenberg, Dortmund 1992, ISBN 3-88379-533-X , pp. 62-63.
  • Hans-Peter Boer, Andreas Lechtape: Castles and palaces in the Münsterland. 2nd Edition. Aschendorff, Münster 2015, ISBN 978-3-402-12766-7 , p. 180.
  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments . Volume 2: Westphalia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1969, p. 54.
  • Bernd Fischer, Klaus Witte: The most beautiful moated castles in the Münsterland. Schaffmann & Kluge, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-616-06728-6 , p. 64.
  • Albert Ludorff : The architectural and art monuments of the Coesfeld district (= The architectural and art monuments of Westphalia . Volume 36). Schöningh, Münster 1913, pp. 19, 25 ( digitized version ).
  • Karl Eugen Mummenhoff : The secular architecture in the upper monastery of Münster from 1450–1650 (= Westphalia. Special issue No. 15), Münster 1961, pp. 201–203.
  • Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Hrsg.): The Kolvenburg (= contributions to regional and folklore of the Coesfeld district. Volume 17). District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, DNB 820163635 .
  • Erich Tönspeterotto, Birgit Cremers-Schiemann: Castles in the Münsterland. Artcolor, Hamminkeln 1994, ISBN 3-89261-125-4 , pp. 123-125.

Web links

Commons : Kolvenburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Peter Ilisch: The Kolvenburg and Charlemagne? On the medieval history of the noble residence. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Ed.): The Kolvenburg. District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, p. 9.
  2. ↑ Münsterland e. V. Association for the Promotion of the Münsterland (Ed.): 100 Schlösser Route. Experience history up close. Münsterland e. V., Greven April 2017, p. 30 ( PDF ; 10.6 MB).
  3. ↑ Peter Ilisch: The Kolvenburg and Charlemagne? On the medieval history of the noble residence. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Ed.): The Kolvenburg. District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, p. 5.
  4. ↑ a b Peter Ilisch: The Kolvenburg and Charlemagne? On the medieval history of the noble residence. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Ed.): The Kolvenburg. District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, p. 3.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f Billerbeck. Kolvenburg. Information flyer from the Coesfeld district, no year ( PDF ; 780 kB).
  6. ↑ a b c Peter Ilisch: The Kolvenburg and Charlemagne? On the medieval history of the noble residence. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Ed.): The Kolvenburg. District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, p. 4.
  7. ↑ Stefan Eismann states in his EBIDAT article that the Kolvenburg was even destroyed during the Munster collegiate feud in 1456. See Stefan Eismann's entry on the Kolvenburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute.
  8. ↑ Peter Ilisch: The Kolvenburg and Charlemagne? On the medieval history of the noble residence. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Ed.): The Kolvenburg. District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, p. 7.
  9. ↑ a b c d Carl Knüppel, Peter Ilisch: The Kolvenburg in the younger centuries. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Ed.): The Kolvenburg. District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, p. 41.
  10. ↑ Karl Eugen Mummenhoff: The secular architecture in the upper monastery of Münster from 1450-1650. 1961, p. 203.
  11. ↑ Carl Knüppel, Peter Ilisch: The Kolvenburg in the younger centuries. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Ed.): The Kolvenburg. District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, p. 42.
  12. ↑ Unless otherwise stated, the presentation of the building history is based on Franz Seidl: Building history statements about the castle during its restoration in 1970 and 1975. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Hrsg.): Die Kolvenburg. Kreis Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, pp. 19-40.
  13. ↑ a b Entry by Stefan Eismann on the Kolvenburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
  14. ^ Franz Seidl: Building history statements about the castle during its restoration in 1970 and 1975. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (ed.): The Kolvenburg. District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, p. 25.
  15. ^ Georg Dehio: Handbook of German Art Monuments. Volume 2: Westphalia. 1969, p. 54.
  16. ↑ a b Castle history on the Kolvenburg website , accessed on November 2, 2017.
  17. ↑ Peter Ilisch: The Kolvenburg and Charlemagne? On the medieval history of the noble residence. In: Oberkreisdirektor des Kreis Coesfeld (Ed.): The Kolvenburg. District of Coesfeld, Coesfeld 1981, p. 8.

Coordinates: 51 ° 58 ′ 23.5 ″  N , 7 ° 17 ′ 18.4 ″  E