Norderburg (Dornum)

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Norderburg
Norderburg moated castle in Dornum

Norderburg moated castle in Dornum

Creation time : 14th Century
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: Receive
Place: Dornum
Geographical location 53 ° 38 '56 "  N , 7 ° 25' 47"  E Coordinates: 53 ° 38 '56 "  N , 7 ° 25' 47"  E
Norderburg (Lower Saxony)
Norderburg

The Norderburg is a moated castle in the East Frisian municipality of Dornum in northwest Lower Saxony . The main building and the outbuildings have been used as a school since 1951.

history

As early as 1400 there were three chief castles in Dornum : the Norderburg , the Westerburg and the Osterburg - the later Beningaburg . The Norderburg , like the Beningaburg, was probably built in the 14th century. The builder was presumably Olde Hero von Dornum, whose son and heir Lütet was married to Ocka tom Brok .

In 1397, the most famous family drama in East Frisian history - and also literarily processed - took place in the Norderburg : The son of the builder of the Norderburg, Lütet, slew his wife Ocka, allegedly on the advice of his mother-in-law, for alleged infidelity and insubordination. Thereupon the mother-in-law Foelke Kampana , wife of Chief Ocko II. Tom Brok and popularly known as the " Quade Foelke ", showed her strength and took over the castle without further ado . Both Lütet and his father were beheaded on the orders of their mother-in-law.

Around 1420 the Norderburg came into the possession of the East Frisian chief family Kankena through the marriage of Lütet's daughter Etta with Mauritz Kankena.

All Dornum castles were destroyed in 1514 in the course of the Saxon feud . The Saxons had conquered the castles, but sold them to Hero Omken from Esens for 4,000 guilders . Hero Omken was a bitter enemy of the East Frisian Count Edzards I Cirksena (1461-1528), with whom the original castle owners Hero Mauritz Kankena († 1518) and Hicko Mauritz Kankena († 1515) were allied. The Cirksena were able to recapture the castle for a short time, but Hero Omken drove them out, plundered and destroyed them. In 1534, Hicko Kankena had the destroyed Norderburg rebuilt as a forerunner of today's castle from bricks in monastery format and with shell limestone mortar.

In 1556 the Norderburg came into the possession of the von Closter family, who came from the Dutch province of Drenthe, and remained in their property until the 18th century. The last heir, Haro Joachim von Closter († 1728), expanded the castle between 1698 and 1707 into a splendid Dutch baroque palace with a park, in the walls of which the remains of the old Renaissance complex can still be found. In 1707 the gatehouse from 1678 received its 30 meter high tower, which is crowned with a Welschen dome . Bells hang in the two lantern-like spacers of the tower. A wide arched passage leads through the gatehouse to the actual main building. It was also Haro Joachim von Closter who had the slogan “I prefer envy to pity” above the archway in the inner courtyard. The north wing burned down in a fire in 1721 and was completely rebuilt.

Later the Norderburg changed hands several times. From 1920 the building was used as a private middle school. One of the headmistresses was Christine Bourbeck, who later became known in Berlin as one of the most important Protestant theologians in Germany. From 1930 to 1933 the East Frisian Farmers College was housed in the building . From 1933 the building served as a driving school for the SA and a residential and training center for the Reich Labor Service . In 1942 the castle passed from private ownership into the property of the state.

After the Second World War , the building came into the possession of the state of Lower Saxony. From Easter 1951 a private middle school was again housed in the Norderburg building. 1956 the conversion to a public school took place, the school administration took over the district north .

From 1994, and especially in the years 1998 to 2001, extensive restoration work was carried out by the state of Lower Saxony .

description

The Schlossstrasse leads through the gatehouse from 1678 with its tower spire from 1707 and ends on the wide square of the outer bailey, in which the baroque castle avenue lined with old trees also ends. The square is surrounded by low buildings that were once farm buildings and the stables . A wooden bridge leads from the outer bailey over the moat surrounding the castle to the castle portal. Above the portal there is a monumental gable with Pallas Athene , the Greek goddess of wisdom and the art of war, in its center .

The knight's hall of the Norderburg is important, a two-story room with a gallery and a baroque ceiling painting depicting Demeter , the goddess of fertility and the earth. Two baroque paintings by an unknown painter in the knight's hall show Hero Mauritz von Closter (1594–1673) with his four sons, the other his wife Almuth von Fridag (1604–1650) with her three daughters. The pictures show an example of how a noble family of the baroque wanted to portray itself.

literature

  • C. Brandes, W. Fünders, H. Lenz, E. Stadlbauer: The moated castle Dornum in East Friesland - building history . In: Reports on the preservation of monuments in Lower Saxony , 1995, ISSN  0720-9835
  • Ernst Andreas Friedrich: The castles of Dornum . In: If stones could talk , Volume II, Landbuch-Verlag, Hannover 1992, ISBN 3-7842-0479-1 , pp. 102-104.

Web links

Commons : Norderburg  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Ulrich Kunth: The moated castle at Dornum (1400–1700) . realschule-dornum.de; Retrieved January 21, 2012
  2. a b Norderburg . ostfriesland.de; Retrieved January 19, 2012
  3. Fridrich Arends: Earth description of the principality of East Friesland and the Harlingerland . P. 436; Text archive - Internet Archive
  4. a b c The development of the school in the castle from middle school to secondary school , accessed on January 21, 2012