Meggenhorn

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Meggenhorn Castle.

The Meggenhorn is a castle residence on Lake Lucerne in the Swiss canton of Lucerne and a ship station for the Lake Lucerne Shipping Company . Geographically, Meggenhorn refers to the headland that protrudes into Lake Lucerne and separates Lake Lucerne from Lake Küssnacht.

investment

The castle rises between Lucerne and Meggen on a hill sloping towards the lake and is surrounded by meadows and forests. It consists of the actual castle, the castle chapel and the castle gardens with the vineyards surrounding the castle. The castle grounds are public and belong to the municipality of Meggen . The castle can be rented for events.

The boat station with its half-timbered boathouses from the 19th century is located near the Christ statue and the Meggenhorn rock lying in the water at the entrance to the Lucerne Bay .

history

Mekkenhorn was first mentioned in 1240 in a contract between Engelberg Monastery and Count Rudolf III. listed. At that time, a castle was built for the first time on the offshore island of Altstad . Parts of the complex belonged to the Canons of St. Leodegar until the 16th century .

In 1626 Ludwig Meyer (knight) (called "the rich Meyer") bought the Meggenhorn estate and expanded it into a manorial country house. After his death in 1663 it was bequeathed to his daughter Dorothea as a dowry for her marriage to the Lucerne councilor Jakob Christoph Cloos. In 1674/75 a country house with a bell tower and a spacious garden was built in the west, and from 1803 it was converted into a palace-like mansion.

Since the marriage remained childless, after Dorothea's death in 1690 her brother Placid (guard captain in Rome) subsequently became the owner. Also died childless, in 1693 the court took over as heir to his niece Anna Maria Catharina Meyer (later name of the family: Meyer von Schauensee ), who married Jakob Balthasar (1657–1733) around 1680. Due to debts, the heir, her son Jakob Rudolf (from 1723 court clerk, from 1734 councilor), had to sell Meggenhorn in 1735; Jakob Franz Castoreo (notary and secretary of the papal nuncio) became the new owner. His grandson, Lorenz Castoreo (Grand Councilor and Bailiff), married Josefa Meyer as the new owner in 1763 in an elaborate wedding ceremony (carried out by the papal nuncio Archbishop Niccolò Oddi ) in the house chapel of the Meggenhof.

In 1767 Joseph Rudolf Valentin Meyer bought the country estate, but had to sell it three years later because he was banished from Lucerne. The new owner was Jost Ignaz Pfyffer (1709–1782; Commander of the Swiss Guard ), after whose death his son Karl Leodegar (1763–1834; also Commander of the Swiss Guard) took over the inheritance.

In 1803 the manor was sold to Maria Josefa Müller-Brand (1742–1828; she was married to Karl Franz Müller, 1738–1797): she previously owned the Eselsmätteli estate in Altdorf , which was taken over by the French troops during the turmoil of the Napoleonic war. In 1803/04 the castle was rebuilt; The roof zone and the surrounding gardens were changed. After her death she left a great fortune. Her son, Lieutenant Colonel Josef Maria Müller, has been the owner of Meggenhorn since 1806. He acquired several surrounding pieces of land, which increased the property to 37 Jucharten . In 1840 the barn, which was rebuilt on it, burned down - today this utility building forms the northern part of the large stable.

His daughter, Sofie Müller (1791–1867, married to Josef Xaver Leonz Franz Schumacher from 1815), was the subsequent owner of the property. In 1857, Colonel Josef Xaver Schumacher (1793–1860; son of Franz Josef Alois and Salesia, née Keller) sold the estate to Edouard Hofer.

The present castle was built in the years 1868/70 by Edouard Hofer-Grosjean from Mulhouse . In 1886 the ensemble was acquired by Comtesse Amélie Celeste Marie Heine-Kohn and her husband Armand Heine . The Comtesse was originally Jewish, but converted to Catholicism as an adult. After buying the castle, she did not want to be satisfied with the existing house chapel and commissioned the Lucerne architect Heinrich Viktor von Segesser to build a free-standing castle chapel. The chapel, which was inaugurated in 1888, was built by the Countess in neo-Gothic style based on the model of the chapel of Amboise Castle on the Loire. Amélie Heine-Kohn died on May 12, 1915 at Meggenhorn Castle.

In 1900, Comtesse Amélie Celeste Marie Heine-Kohn had the sculptor Josef Vetter from Lucerne built the more than five-meter high statue of Christ on the rocky spur above the Meggenhorn lakeshore in gratitude for being saved from a serious illness . It was inaugurated by the Bishop of Basel.

In 1920 Madame Paule Marguerite Laure Juliette Adélaïde Furtado-Heine sold Meggenhorn Castle to the Zurich industrialist Jakob-Heinrich Frey-Baumann. In 1926 he had a Welte Philharmonic organ installed, which is still ready to play today. His daughters inherited the castle in 1960. Since 1974 the entire complex has belonged to the municipality of Meggen.

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Coordinates: 47 ° 2 '6.9 "  N , 8 ° 21' 22.3"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred and sixty-nine thousand seven hundred forty  /  209765