Liebenburg (Liebenburg)
| Liebenburg | ||
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 Depiction of the Liebenburg with Hausmannsturm on the right outside around 1520 during the Hildesheim collegiate feud , drawing by Johannes Krabbe from 1591 |
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| Alternative name (s): | formerly Levenborch | |
| Creation time : | 1292 to 1302 | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Place: | Liebenburg | |
| Geographical location | 52 ° 1 '9.9 " N , 10 ° 25' 21.2" E | |
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The Liebenburg was a medieval spur castle in Liebenburg in Lower Saxony , which was built between 1292 and 1302 and, with its seven towers, was one of the strongest castles in the Harz foreland . Today only individual parts of the outer bailey, such as defensive towers and sections of the curtain wall , which were extensively renovated from the 1990s onwards. The castle complex, which had been badly damaged over the centuries by the effects of the war, was demolished in 1750 by the prince-bishop of the Hildesheim bishopric, Clemens August . In their place he built an incomplete baroque pleasure and hunting palace with the palace church of the Annunciation , which is now privately owned.
Building description
The castle complex was in an elevated position on a mountain spur on the eastern slope of a foothill of the Salzgitter ridge . Today only a few parts of the system are left. These include three of the seven towers, including the mighty Hausmannsturm , a defensive tower of the curtain wall and the base of a defensive tower. In addition, some sections of the curtain wall have been restored during renovation.
The Hausmannsturm on an artificial hill with a surrounding wall was built as a keep and watchtower outside the former castle between 1290 and 1302. It has walls several meters thick and numerous loopholes in wall niches. The tower was used to provide an overview and to protect the castle against attacks over the ridge, which was not visible from the castle. Since the tower was falling into disrepair, it was cordoned off for a long time from the 1970s. In 1991, a local association for the preservation of architectural monuments donated a spiral staircase inside to climb the tower . In 2005 the masonry of the tower, increasingly damaged by the weather, was renovated. After completing these measures, the Hausmannsturm is now used as a lookout tower .
The flanking tower as a striking defensive tower on the eastern flank of the curtain wall was built in 1290. During a complete renovation in 2003, it was given a modern flat roof and has been used as an event property ever since.
The schoolmaster's tower is a former defensive tower on the curtain wall, of which only the base remains. Since its partial renovation in 2002, it has served as a viewing platform over the surrounding areas.
In 2005, parts of the once mighty curtain wall were renovated. During excavation work, an underground secret passage 2.2 m high and 0.7 m wide was uncovered, which leads out of the castle. A bricked-up branch presumably led in a northerly direction to the outside Hausmannsturm and served to supply the tower crew.
history
Around the year 1292, the Hildesheim bishop Siegfried II had the complex originally called "Levenborch" built. The castle protected the Hildesheim monastery on its eastern border against the dukes of Braunschweig . In 1366 the castle came to the city of Braunschweig as pledge , which it served as a base on the trade route to Goslar . In the further 14th and 15th centuries, nobles sat at the castle as pawnbrokers. These included members of the von Schwicheldt and von Cramm families . Liebenburg, which was not affected by the Hildesheim collegiate feud , came to Duke Heinrich the Younger of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel in 1523 . In 1541/1542 he hid his lover Eva von Trott with her three youngest children in the castle, who gave birth to her ninth child here.
In 1542 troops of the Schmalkaldic League moved into the Liebenburg, which had occupied the Braunschweig region and driven out the duke. In 1547 the duke returned to his country. In 1552, Count Vollrad von Mansfeld captured the castle and kept it occupied for a short time. During the Thirty Years War , the Liebenburg was temporarily Wallenstein's headquarters in 1625 . Severe destruction occurred in 1633 when Swedish troops penetrated. The imperial garrison had surprisingly left the castle overnight, presumably through the underground secret passage rediscovered in 2005. In 1641 imperial troops retook the castle after being bombarded. Towards the end of the Thirty Years' War, the castle was returned to the Hildesheim Monastery by a peace treaty in 1643, which was the original builder of the complex.
The pleasure and hunting lodge with chapel in place of the castle, which was to be built in the 18th century, could not be completed because the Seven Years' War broke out in 1756 . For lack of money, only the western part was completed. In the 19th century the Liebenburg office and the district court had their seat in the castle. While the office was dissolved in 1885, the district court remained in the castle until it was relocated to Salzgitter in 1959 . Since 1974 the castle has been the residence and place of work of the artist Gerd Winner .
literature
- Hans Adolf Schultz : Castles and palaces of the Braunschweiger Land . Braunschweig 1980, "Levenborch" and Schloß Liebenburg , pp. 121–126, ISBN 3-87884-012-8 ( Online ( Memento from June 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ))
- Ernst Andreas Friedrich : The Stauffenburg and the Liebenburg , pp. 189–191, in: If stones could talk , Volume I, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1989, ISBN 3-7842-03973 .
- Margret Zimmermann, Hans Kensche: Castles and palaces in Hildesheimer Land . Hildesheim, 2001, pp. 93-95
Web links
- Entry by Stefan Eismann zu Liebenburg in the scientific database " EBIDAT " of the European Castle Institute
- Reconstruction drawing by Wolfgang Braun
- Description of the castle with a map
- Description of the complex with a map of the shelling in the Seven Years' War
- Description of the complex with photos and drawing of the castle from 1641
- History of the castle, palace and palace church