Ordensburg Liebstedt
| Ordensburg Liebstedt | ||
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 Ordensburg Liebstedt |
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| Alternative name (s): | Liebstedt moated castle | |
| Creation time : | 900 to 1000 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | Receive | |
| Standing position : | Nobles, counts, clericals | |
| Construction: | Natural stone / brick | |
| Place: | Liebstedt | |
| Geographical location | 51 ° 2 '47 " N , 11 ° 24' 34" E | |
| Height: | 250 m above sea level NHN | |
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The Ordensburg Liebstedt even Wasserburg Liebstedt called, is located at Berggasse 95 the municipality Liebstedt in district Weimarer Land in Thuringia .
The Ordensburg Liebstedt is the only largely completely preserved castle of the Teutonic Order in the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany and the only existing Ordensburg of the Teutonic Order in Europe that was built on a street and has received its original character as a transit castle (or road castle).
history
The castle was originally built in the 10th century. It was built as a moated castle with a moat on one of the most important medieval long-distance trade routes, the Kupferstrasse . The origins of the Kupferstrasse go back to early history. The road connected Jutland in the north with Venice in the south until 1846 . Anyone who traveled on this road inevitably had to go through this castle.
In 956 "Libenstete" (Liebstedt) and "Azmenstat" ( Oßmannstedt ) were given away by Otto I to the Quedlinburg monastery . In 1300 the castle came to the Pforte monastery and in 1304 to the Hersfeld monastery . In 1314 the Landgraves of Thuringia acquired the castle and it became a fiefdom of Count Heinrich von Beichlingen. In 1331 she came to the Teutonic Knights Order, which established a commandery , an administrative district that included Liebstedt, Goldbach and Wohlsborn.
architecture
Unique is the defense system of the castle, a triple trench Wall System, a combination of water and dry moats and ramparts . The ramparts enclosed the whole place. The moat, filled with stratified water, enclosed the main castle and thus formed an artificial island that could only be reached via two drawbridges with gate towers . The moat has been partially reconstructed and filled.
The brick construction is a specialty . During a far-reaching renovation in the 15th century, the construction method previously unknown in these latitudes was used and it was probably from here that it spread throughout Thuringia, supported by the Teutonic Knights Order ( brick Gothic ).
In 1809 the Teutonic Order was expropriated on the instructions of Napoleon . After the Congress of Vienna, the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach received the castle.
The complex now covers around three hectares. The outer bailey , which served as a farmyard ( coach house for coaches and wagons, stables, apartments for servants), also has a rather unusual roof structure in the barn without vertical support beams.
Lords of Liebstedt
The knightly von Liebstedt family, a tribe with the knights von Oßmannstedt and von Denstedt, is documented from 1211 to 1348. In 1221 the knight Heinrich von Liebstedt was mentioned in a document of the Oberweimar monastery as Vogt, in 1265 Heinrich von Liebstedt as a lay brother of the Pforta monastery and in 1285 a Ludwig von Liebstedt as a witness. The three lines all had a rooster in the coat of arms.
Todays use
The entire castle grounds have been managed by the Ordensburg-Gilde since 1998. Annual events such as the Middle Ages Spectacle at Easter, the Gautsch Festival in August and the Imperial Maneuver in September brought the castle back to life, had become a cultural center of Thuringia and could also be used for private purposes. The castle was sold to a private investor group in December 2016 and is being renovated. It is currently only open for events.
literature
- K. Schmidt: The moated castle and its masters through the ages . In: Liebstedt - from the Stone Age to the modern age - a chronicle. Printing, reprography: Druck Alex GmbH Berlin (published 2005)
- Michael Köhler: Thuringian castles and fortified prehistoric and early historical living spaces . 2nd expanded and revised edition. Jenzig-Verlag, Jena 2003, ISBN 3-910141-56-0 , p. 194.
- Thomas Bienert: Medieval castles in Thuringia - 430 castles, castle ruins and fortifications . 1st edition. Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-631-1 , pp. 355-357.
- Hans and Doris Maresch: Worth seeing Thuringia - castles and palaces . Erfurt 1997.
- Otto Deichmüller: History of the village Liebstedt , with the regests of the Lords of Liebstedt from the documents of the monasteries Pforte and Heusdorf from 1211 to 1348. In: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History and Antiquity , 1902, New Series XII, pp. 150-216 . PDF
