Mühlbacher Klause

Mühlbacher Klause
	The Mühlbacher Klause
Alternative name (s):	Chiusa di Rio Pusteria ; Haslacher Klause
Creation time :	around 1460
Conservation status:	ruin
Geographical location	46 ° 48 '43 " N , 11 ° 41' 5.1" E Coordinates: 46 ° 48 '43 " N , 11 ° 41' 5.1" E

The castle ruins of the Mühlbacher Klause ( Chiusa di Rio di Pusteria in Italian ) is a roughly rectangular barrier with a fortified gate in the west (Mühlbacher Tor) and in the east (Vintler Tor) of the system.

location

The hermitage is located in Mühlbach ( South Tyrol , Italy ), a few kilometers north of Brixen at the transition from the Eisack Valley to the Pustertal Valley . According to some regional definitions, the complex is seen as the border point between the two valleys.

History and predecessor systems

The older, no longer preserved Mühlbacher Klause (also called "Haslacher Klause") was first mentioned in 1269 and built by the brothers Meinhard (later Meinhard II of Tyrol ) and Albert von Görz, while the younger (about 200 m further east of the older ) was built around 1460 by Duke Sigismund of Tyrol . Both marked the border between Tyrol and Gorizia until 1500 . This function only ended with the death of the last Count of Gorizia . The hermitage was still used as a fortress and road block or customs post. The country road led through the inner courtyard of the castle complex, where road tolls had to be paid. The customs station was important because it was where the medieval toll was collected from travelers from Treviso and Venice . The hermitage was not only a difficult obstacle to bypass for carts and wagons, but also for pedestrians, especially since a barrier wall, still visible today, pulled up the mountain.

The Mühlbacher Klause is more than a mere customs post and has seen many a battle. The hermitage was besieged in vain during the Peasant Wars in 1526. By fighting in 1703 ( War of the Spanish Succession ) and 1809 (Tyrolean uprising against the Bavarian occupation), the barrier was badly damaged and not rebuilt. Instead, it was subsequently sold to citizens of Mühlbach and used as a "quarry". However, since the inner components in particular were removed, the hermitage is still quite impressive when viewed from the outside. However, the hermitage was never demolished, even if it often hindered the heavy traffic in the Pustertal valley, because the state road ran through the hermitage.

Attempts to renew the hermitage repeatedly failed due to its relative insignificance, as it had been in the middle of the state of Tyrol since 1500. It was only the construction of a new road and its relocation outside the walls of the facility or the commitment of some Mühlbachers that led to the fact that the hermitage was restored from 1978.

In Roman times it can be assumed that there was an Augustan roadblock on the branch of the Via Julia Augusta leading from Aquileia via castrum Ursen ( Irschen ) to Veldidena (Wilten near Innsbruck) in order to control the road connection from the friendly Noricum to the enemy Raetia . The barrier wall lost its function, like the one in Aguntum , after the Roman conquest of Raetia and its incorporation into the Roman Empire in 15 BC. Chr.

investment

It is divided into an upper, more fortified, and a lower, formerly inhabited, cultivated part. In the upper part only the left round tower is preserved. The right one was destroyed during the construction of the Pustertal railway line, as was the barrier wall outside the facility. In the lower part, the ground floor of the customs building has been preserved, where blacksmiths and stables were located. The so-called Kaiserturm is located on the left. It is so called because Emperor Maximilian I is said to have stayed here during his hunting activities. On the road leading through the complex are the remains of a chapel ( dedicated to the Trinity ) and a number stone.

gallery

literature

Waltraud Kofler-Engl , South Tyrolean Office for Architectural and Art Monuments (Ed.): The Mühlbacher Klause: History, Archeology, Restoration . Athesia, Bozen 2009, ISBN 978-88-8266-617-0
Peter A. Larcher: Sigmund of the rich in coins Mühlbacher Klause in Tirol: Construction and history of a monument of fortification art from the early days of firearms. A monographic representation with integral consideration of the Meinhardin predecessor building of the 13th century and the peculiarity of both systems as sovereign customs post and d. Early history d. Locality. Dissertation, Innsbruck 1989
Astrid von Schlachta : Mühlbacher Klause . In: Magdalena Hörmann-Weingartner (Ed.): Tiroler Burgenbuch. IX. Volume: Val Pusteria . Publishing house Athesia, Bozen 2003, ISBN 978-88-8266-163-2 , pp. 43-52.

Web links

Commons : Mühlbacher Klause - collection of images, videos and audio files

Entry in the monument browser on the website of the South Tyrolean Monuments Office
The Mühlbacher Klause on burgenwelt.de
The Mühlbacher Klause on the castle side of South Tyrol