Bernburg Castle

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Bernburg Castle from the southwest

The Bernburg Castle - also called "crown Anhalt" - is a Renaissance castle in Bernburg (Saale) , Saxony-Anhalt . It rises on high sandstone cliffs above the eastern bank of the Saale , on the site of an earlier ford . The palace complex goes back to a medieval hilltop castle and is managed as the owner by the Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt .

history

The Bernburg was probably already mentioned on June 29, 961 as a Saxon round and fleeing castle with rampart and moat in a deed of donation from King Otto I as "Brandanburg". A large early medieval castle complex has now been archaeologically proven on the Bernburger Schlossberg.

In 1138 it was first mentioned as "Berneburch" or "Berneborch" on the occasion of its pillage in connection with disputes between Welfen and Hohenstaufen . At that time it was the widow's seat of Countess Eilika (Saxony) , the mother of Margrave Albrecht I (Brandenburg) from the Ascanian family . In the second half of the 12th century, under Bernhard III. (Saxony) the reconstruction as a large Romanesque castle complex. The mighty keep in the castle courtyard, one of the largest in Germany, dates from this time and , according to local tradition, is the place of action in the 22nd history of the Middle Low German folk book Till Eulenspiegel and is therefore called the Eulenspiegel Tower . The remains of the Romanesque castle chapel St. Pankratius also date from the second half of the 12th century. Pankratius was the patron saint of knights and the nobility , so that many castle chapels were consecrated to him. Arnolf of Carinthia attributed his conquest of Rome by his knight army in February 896 and his subsequent imperial coronation to the invocation of Pankratius. Pope Formosus therefore gave him relics of the saint, which were brought to Roding ( Upper Palatinate ). From there the Pankratius worship spread among the knighthood.

According to the Annales Stadenses death of Bernhard III. (Saxony) in Bernburg around the turn of the year 1211/12 connects the history of the state of Anhalt with the remains of the wall of the Bernburg castle chapel; because it is very likely that the first part of the funeral ceremony for the deceased duke took place there before his body was transferred to the Benedictine monastery of Ballenstedt, the burial place of the early Ascanians. The Bernburg Castle Chapel, as the site of the first public ritual discussion of Bernhard's death, was an important stage in the ceremonial course of the succession and the Ascanian division of the inheritance. In a sense, it represents, next to the eponymous Anhalt Castle in the Selke Valley, another authentic “birthplace” of the later state of Anhalt .

From 1498 the rule and castle of Bernburg came to the princes of Anhalt-Köthen , who used the castle as a domain, administrative center and place of residence of the rulership and rebuilt it accordingly (old house). The facility was not expanded militarily.

In 1538/39 Wolfgang (Anhalt-Köthen) had a tower-like building built in the north-west of the castle courtyard by the Halle builder Andreas Günther in rich, only partially preserved Renaissance forms, the Wolfgangbau named after him (today the western part of the so-called long house). A model was the slightly older hall building of the residential palace Hartenfels in Torgau , one of the main works of the early Saxon Renaissance . The Wolfgangbau in Bernburg, for example, has round bay windows known as “lights” on two corners of the building with antique ornaments and thus functioned as a stately Belvedere with a wide view of the river valley. In addition, the bay windows on the outside show reliefs of Protestant princes and the Roman-German Emperor Charles V.

It was likely that other parts of the facility were also built at the time, such as individual construction details, e.g. B. door panels. In 1547 Prince Wolfgang had to leave his country as one of the co-founders of the Schmalkaldic League , which was defeated by Emperor Charles V. The relatives of the Dessau line only gradually regained possession of this territory.

The Bernburg part of the country received in 1563 Joachim Ernst (Anhalt) (r. 1551–1586). In 1567 he began building an extensive two-story residential building for himself and his wife as an eastern extension of the Wolfgang building. This created the so-called long house as the northern end of the castle courtyard. Unlike today, the nave originally had a picturesque row of dwelling houses in the roof zone. For this construction task he engaged the Halle builder Nickel Hoffmann .

Joachim Ernst initially resided primarily in Roßlau Castle . Perhaps the expansion of Bernburg was made with the intention of moving his residence to this larger castle. Soon after the construction work in Bernburg was completed, however, his last living brother, Bernhard, who ruled Dessau , died in 1570 , and Joachim Ernst was able to unite all of Anhalt's lands in his hand. As a result of his move to Dessau and the extensive construction work there on the Dessau residential palace in the 1570s, Bernburg lost its importance and at most had to fulfill the functions of a secondary residence. Nevertheless, at an unknown time after 1586, the Johann-Georg-Bau began, which in 1606 was still in the shell.

Although the importance of the castle changed when Bernburg became the modest residence of a part of Anhaltin in 1606, this new function was not reflected in extensive renovations to the existing building fabric. With the relocation of the residence to Ballenstedt in 1765 , Bernburg again lost its central importance until it finally moved to the periphery after the Bernburg line died out in 1863 and the union with Anhalt-Dessau . Due to these circumstances, the structure of the palace was changed only cautiously. Although various outbuildings were built, the existing rooms were designed according to the respective needs and the nave was provided with extensive classical interior design in the first half of the 19th century, but by and large the castle retained its old shape.

In 1860 the first bear pit for a Russian brown bear was built in the former moat. Over time, the bear enclosure was rebuilt several times, most recently from 1992 to 1996. Two brown bears can currently be seen there, which are being looked after by the Bernburg Zoo. The Johann-Georg-Bau, which burned down in 1895, was rebuilt. A little later, extensive restoration work began on the nave, in which the substance of the bay windows and other details were accurately replaced. Further extensive restorations took place in the 1920s and 1930s and were partially resumed after the Second World War.

  • Cubature of the castle chapel St. Pankratius

  • Courtyard of the Bernburg Castle

  • Original facade of the nave

  • Bay window on the Joachim Ernst Building, Eulenspiegel Tower

Todays use

Aerial photo with a clearly recognizable floor plan of the palace complex

The Museum Schloss Bernburg is housed in the old house and crooked house of the castle. The torture exhibition provides an insight into the darker part of the Middle Ages. The Anhalt mineral collection can be viewed in the Johann Georg Building . The German Cabaret Archive has been documenting the history of the GDR cabaret in the same building since 2004 . In today by the Cultural Foundation of Saxony-Anhalt managed buildings there also which was formerly District Court . The castle terrace offers a wide panoramic view of the Saale valley and the Harz foreland , with good visibility as far as the Brocken . The castle is a station on the Romanesque Road .

literature

Web links

Commons : Bernburg Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Filz in Schmitt et al. (2009), p. 64.

Coordinates: 51 ° 47 ′ 38 "  N , 11 ° 44 ′ 4"  E