Querfurt Castle
| Querfurt Castle | ||
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 Querfurt Castle; from left to right: Dicker Heinrich, Paris Tower, Princely House and Marterturm |
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| Castle type : | Höhenburg, location | |
| Conservation status: | Received or received substantial parts | |
| Place: | Querfurt | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 22 '37 " N , 11 ° 35' 38" E | |
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The castle Querfurt is in town Querfurt in Saalekreis , Saxony-Anhalt . The Höhenburg is one of the largest medieval castles in Germany and occupies an area that the Wartburg could accommodate seven times. The complex owned by the Saalekreis is a station on the Romanesque Road .
prehistory
Early Bronze Age finds are known of the castle grounds . These are graves of the Aunjetitz culture and readings from a field in the area of the outer bailey . For this reason, the area for prehistory and early history of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena carried out a geomagnetic survey on the grounds of the outer bailey and in the adjacent farmer's museum , during which three trenches came to light. Two of them were documented in an excavation in 2006 . The temporal classification of the southern trench is currently being scientifically determined using the bones and charcoal found in it ( radiocarbon dating ). Little datable material could be obtained from the pits in the northern excavation cuts. However, since the excavation in this area was only carried out in August 2007, the results are still pending.
history
In a tithe directory of the Hersfeld monastery that was created between 881 and 899, Querfurt is mentioned for the first time in a document as the place of Curnfurt im Friesenfeld , and in a document of Emperor Otto II from 979 it is first titled castellum . The castle there had been the seat of the noble lords of Querfurt since the 10th century .
Traces of the oldest surviving building structure, which are parts of the inner curtain wall and the grain and armory house , also date from the 10th century . The stone buildings were limited to the area between today's granary , which keep Dicker Heinrich and the castle church. These contemporary solid buildings also underline the importance of the noble lords of Querfurt .
In 1004, at the same time as the foundation of a castle chapel, a canon monastery was founded, which was followed from 1162 by the construction of a Romanesque church in the middle of the castle courtyard. In the 14th century a burial chapel was added to this with the Tumba Gebhards XIV of Querfurt .
At the beginning of the 12th century the building of the fat Heinrichs followed , the beginning of the 13th century the erection of the Marterturm and at the beginning of the 14th century the building of the Paris tower followed. The outer curtain wall was added around 1350.
Fortification changes were made during the 15th century. The bastions and the west gate date from 1460 to 1490. After the death of the last lord of the castle, Bruno IX. von Querfurt In 1496 Querfurt and its castle were drawn in as a fiefdom of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg . Albrecht von Brandenburg then had structural changes made to the complex in 1528 and 1535.
Towards the end of the Thirty Years War , from 1640 to 1642, the fortress, considered impregnable, changed hands several times after heavy sieges and bombardments. The subsequent occupation of the Swedes lasted from 1642 to 1650.
In 1663 the imperial princes of Saxony-Querfurt made the complex their residence and thus Querfurt the capital of their territory. The so-called Princely House was therefore built from 1660 to 1668 .
Around 1700 new gun positions were built on the widened berm above the Zwinger , before Querfurt after the death of Adolph III. from Sachsen-Weißenfels fell back to the Electorate of Saxony .
In 1815 the town and castle fell to Prussia , whereupon the castle complex was converted into a domain . This status was only dissolved in 1936.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the castle church was also redesigned in Baroque style and restored from 1846 to 1850 and 1903 .
The period from 1972 to 1978 passed with renovation and restoration measures as well as extensive building research, which was continued in 2000.
description
The towers
The fat Heinrich , a round tower from the 12th century without windows, chimney and toilet, is the only Romanesque tower in the castle. Its height is 27.50 meters, the diameter at the bottom 14 meters and the lower wall thickness is 4.35 meters. His wreath with loopholes was added in the 15th century. The construction time of a building under today's keep is dated around 1000.
The lower part of the so-called Marterturm was built in the form of a residential tower at the beginning of the 13th century. In the 14th century it was increased. After the Thirty Years' War it was only used as a granary.
In the Paris tower from the late 14th century, which was originally called Hausmannsturm , there is a tower dungeon . It received its baroque bonnet in 1659. The top is 57 meters high. The tower can be climbed as a lookout tower .
The wall and moat system, the west gate system
The outer curtain wall was built around 1350, with a thickness of almost two meters and a height of ten meters, with strong reinforcement with loopholes. The castle complex is additionally secured by an eleven meter wide and five meter deep dry moat - the water-permeable shell limestone rock does not allow a moat.
The development of artillery made it necessary to build new fortifications . Therefore, bastions were built in the second half of the 15th century. The so-called rondels are not to be referred to as such in today's usage. They are rather monumentalized shell towers that are hardly suitable for setting up guns and are still strongly influenced by medieval castle construction. Building inscriptions indicate that it was built between 1461 and 1479, although the south roundabout is somewhat older and can be dated to around 1450. On the lower floors there are mouth and trouser loops for hook boxes . In addition, so-called bullet protection planks have been preserved. After the devastating destruction in the Thirty Years War, the bastions were thoroughly restored.
The so-called "west gate system" from 1385/1479 with its massive fortifications is also exceptional. This fortress alone is about as big as the Wartburg near Eisenach . The special type of his loopholes allowed special shooting angles.
Castle chapel
The castle chapel was a collegiate church and consecrated to "Our Lady of Quernford Castle". It served as the burial place of the Counts of Querfurt from 1323 .
The cross-shaped church building erected from 1162 on over older foundations is reminiscent of Southeastern European models. Its octagonal crossing tower dates from the second half of the 12th century. The tumba of Count Gebhard XIV of Querfurt is located in a Gothic side chapel that was added in the 14th century . It is an outstanding example of the Bohemian sculpture of the late 14th century.
From 1698 to 1716 a baroque reconstruction took place, with an opening in the crossing tower decorated with shell ornamentation. The paintings are by Andreas Mateyerlein, the stucco work was done by Georg Friedrich Hopffe, Francesco Domenico Minetti and Abondio Minetti. After the restorations in the years 1846–1850 and 1903–1906, four heavily reworked ceiling paintings, the design of the crossing, stucco of the former chimney on the west (formerly manorial) gallery and two consoles on the north portal, the one from the baroque interior the tympanum from the Marienzell monastery has been preserved.
After the political change, the church was reopened to the public in 1992 after being closed for 20 years.
- organ
The original organ of the castle chapel was built by the organ builders Gebr. Rühlmann ( Zörbig ) in 1887 as Opus 86. The slider chest instrument had 14 stops on two manuals and a pedal . The actions were mechanical. The instrument became increasingly dilapidated and was replaced in 1994 by a new organ from the Schuke company .
The disposition of the Rühlmann organ was:
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- Coupling : manual coupling, pedal coupling
- Side train : Kalkantenruf
The fountain
In the middle of the castle is the castle fountain , which was at times the only water source in the castle. It was backfilled in 1945 and dug back to its present depth of around 33 meters between 1973 and 2000. The current water level is about 2½ meters.
Princely house, grain and armory, administrative house and tenant house
The Princely House used to have a representative character, even though numerous alterations from different eras have left their mark. It is based on parts of a second former Roman Palas , the so-called Ottonenkeller . In 1528 the building was rebuilt in the Renaissance style and redesigned in the Baroque style from 1660 to 1668.
The building history of the granary built in 1535 goes back to the 10th century. It is based on a gatehouse from the 10th century that was formerly built on the north side and the remains of Ottonian and Romanesque houses. The basement served as an armory. It only got its present form in the years 1680–1685.
The barn was mentioned as early as 1469 at the castle. The late baroque office building and tenant house have lost their original shape at the latest with the changed use of the castle as an administrative seat.
Memorial plaque for Brun von Querfurt
At the church of the castle in Querfurt a plaque commemorates the holy Brun von Querfurt . The memorial plaque was attached to the church in 1909, 900 years after his death. The inscription on the plaque reads:
In memory of
Bruno v. Querfurt
called Bonifacius the founder of
this church. In the year 1004 he moved
from the castle of his fathers to
the east of Germany and died
in the land of Prussia
+ preaching the gospel +
the martyr's death March 9th 1009
Todays use
Museums
A castle museum has existed in the grain and armory house since 1952 . Today's permanent exhibition entitled Life in War and Peace provides information about the history of the castle complex, which has been used as a military base, trading post and manor over the course of history. The exhibition reports on medieval horse riding tournaments, Archbishop Konrad (1100–1142), dukes and nobles as well as the silver altarpiece of the castle church. Other parts of the exhibition show archaeological finds from prehistory and early history. The otherwise closed underground vaults are accessible during castle tours.
On a neighboring open space in front of the western castle wall, there is the old castle sheep farm's museum , with a house, blacksmith workshop , saddlery and wheelwright . This agricultural history museum has a collection of large agricultural machines.
Film set
From 2008, Querfurt Castle was used several times for filming, because the existing structure saves the construction of costly backdrops . Productions like 1½ Ritter with Til Schweiger in 2008 and Die Päpstin 2009 were shot there in parts. In 2011, the castle was the setting for the German fairy tale films Jorinde and Joringel by Bodo Fürneisen and The Dancing Shoes with Dieter Hallervorden , before part of the shooting of The Medicus with Tom Payne and Ben Kingsley took place in the facility in 2012 . Parts of the film The Six Swans were also shot there in 2012 .
additional
The royal house of the castle was home to a polyclinic from 1950 to 1983 . After extensive renovation, its rooms have been used for gastronomy since 2001. In 2011 the Querfurt branch of the district music school moved to the castle.
The wedding hall in the granary and armory as well as the reopened castle church are used for civil and church weddings .
Regular events
The medieval castle festival takes place on the third weekend in June. The “summer cinema” in August shows films. A tournament will be held in various disciplines during the knights' fights around October 3rd. On the fourth weekend in Advent, the “Christmas Magic”, a medieval Christmas market , takes place on the castle grounds.
literature
- Norbert Eisold, Edeltraud Lautsch: Saxony-Anhalt. Between Harz and Fläming, Altmark and Unstrut Valley culture - history and landscape on the Elbe and Saale. DuMont, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7701-3968-2 , p. 421.
- Reinhard Schmitt : Burg Querfurt - contributions to the building history, building findings and archival sources . Museum Burg Querfurt / State Office for Monument Preservation Saxony-Anhalt, Querfurt / Magdeburg 2002.
- Reinhard Schmitt: Querfurt . In: Hans-Rudolf Neumann (Ed.): Historical fortresses in the Middle East of the Federal Republic of Germany . Fraunhofer IRB, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-8167-4726-4 , pp. 161-188.
- Reinhart Schmitt (Red.): Querfurt Castle . Querfurt 2002.
- Hermann Wäscher: The building history of Querfurt Castle . Kreuz-Verlag, Halle 1956.
- Helga Wäß: Querfurt Castle. Castle chapel and grave chapel with tumba for Count Gebhard XIV. Von Querfurt . In: Form and Perception of Central German Memory Sculpture in the 14th Century . Volume 2 (= catalog of selected objects from the High Middle Ages to the beginning of the 15th century ). Bristol et al. 2006, ISBN 3-86504-159-0 , pp. 517-521.
- Michael Wende: Castle Guide Germany . Volume 1 (= Eastern Federal States ). Aletheia, Stahnsdorf 2002, ISBN 3-930460-41-6 .
- Architectural and art monuments of Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent areas. Volume 27. 1909, pp. 218-219 and pp. 225-226.
Web links
- Site of the castle
- Querfurt Castle on burgenwelt.de
- Querfurt Castle on the website of the city administration
- Querfurt Castle on harz-saale.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Burg Querfurt on burgenwelt.de ( Memento of 22 February 2014 Internet Archive )
- ^ Reg. Thur. No. 287.
- ↑ Burg Querfurt in the Saxony-Anhalt Wiki ( memento of the original from January 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Accessed March 22, 2016.
- ↑ Information on the Rühlmann organ , accessed on November 20, 2013.
- ^ Marion Bayer: A history of Germany in 100 buildings. Cologne 2015, p. 59.
- ^ Brun von Querfurt , Saalekreis im Bild, accessed on November 3, 2017
- ↑ a b “Hollywood” as a guest at Querfurt Castle on burg-querfurt.de ( memento of the original from October 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Accessed November 20, 2013.
- ^ Regina Retzlaff: Ufa Cinema GmbH shoots parts of the "Medicus" in Querfurt. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. Online edition from June 19, 2012.
- ↑ Burgfest on burg-querfurt.de , accessed on March 22, 2017
- ↑ Calendar of events on burg-querfurt.de , accessed on March 22, 2017.
