Knights' houses in Ürikon
The Ürikon knight houses are a group of houses from the 16th century in Uerikon in the municipality of Stäfa on Lake Zurich in the Swiss canton of Zurich . It consists of a so-called castle stable , the actual knight's house and a chapel.
The building was given the romanticizing name "Ritterhaus" in the 19th century in memory of the Knights of Ürikon, who, however, had died out in the 14th century and had nothing to do with the building.
Knight of Urikon
Today's Stäfner village part of Ürikon was first mentioned in a document in 965, when Emperor Otto I handed over the originally Alemannic court Urinchova to Einsiedeln monastery . In 1229 an Albertus de Urinchova from Count Rudolf von Rapperswil is listed as a witness in a legal transaction. On December 29, 1315, Knight Albrecht von Ürikon donated his property in Ürikon, Stäfa and Hombrechtikon to Einsiedeln Abbey in memory of his three sons Beringer, Konrad and Rudolf who died in the Battle of Morgarten , as well as his father Albrecht . Their death at Morgarten has not been proven beyond doubt. Between 1229 and 1321, the Knights of Ürikon were named around twenty times as actors or witnesses in connection with the Counts of Rapperswil. Later, Üriker are no longer mentioned in a document. It is grateful that they were ministerials for the Rapperswilers.
Burgstall
Heinrich Wirz, the builder of the so-called Burgstall, was in Amman's service between 1488 and 1534 for the Einsiedeln monastery. The house was built in 1492 from massive sandstone blocks on the remains of an old tower. Even compared to townhouses, it was large and reminded of the palas of a medieval castle. A dendrochronological examination showed that the wood for the attic was felled in the winter of 1491/92.
Aegidius Tschudi wrote in his book of arms in the middle of the 16th century:
“The von Uerickon on Lake Zurich, dead, now the landlords have adopted the coat of arms. - Urickon Castle, water went off, hand the jokes a shit on the stick. "
Tschudi's note is the only written reference to a castle in Ürikon, on the ruins of which the Wirz could have built their building. The mighty house was divided into several apartments over the years.
In 1536, after Heinrich's death, the castle stables passed from Heinrich's daughter Anna Wirz to her husband Andreas Pfenninger. In the copey book of the Oberwacht Stäfa it is recorded how the Pfenninger gradually sold their shares in the castle stable on the occasion of an inheritance from 1680. In 1757 the house had become a crooked four-family house, which was mostly inhabited by craftsman families. Among other things, the Burgstall housed a bakery, a shoemaker, grocer's, post office and pubs. From 1792, Hans Jakob Bodmer (1767–1822) made his apartment in the Burgstall available to the community and taught there himself until 1907 to around 30 children.
In the course of the 19th century, the Burgstall was particularly shaped by numerous shipmen. They sailed on Lake Zurich and Lake Walen and moored the small port. During this time, the landfills in front of the Burgstall and Ritterhaus took place.
In 1906 the beamed ceiling of the paneled Amman's room on the first floor was sold to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; In 1965 they were repurchased by the Ritterhaus Association and reinstalled. Between 1945 and 1963, the Ritterhaus-Vereinigung bought three of the four parts of the house in the Burgstall, thereby saving one of the oldest houses in Ürikon from being demolished. The apartments in the Burgstall are rented and cannot be viewed.
Knight house
The knight's house, a mighty frame building, was built in 1531, forty years after the castle stables. It lies to the west of it and is separated from it by a small stream. The client was Heinrich Wirz's nephews, the sons of his brother Hans. It is unclear whether the house was also built on the remains of a previous building.
Three paneled rooms with tiled stoves and a carved Gothic beamed ceiling from the year of construction in 1531 with coats of arms and fools' heads, a motif popular at the time, are worth seeing . The beam ceiling was removed in 1906 and stored in the Swiss National Museum . Today it has been back in the Ritterhaus on loan since 1963.
The house was built on the ground that the Knights of Ürkon donated to the Einsiedeln monastery at the time. In 1552 Hans Diebold Wirz, who is named as the last owner, was still paying interest to Einsiedeln. The new house served as a residence and Amman's seat. How the knight's house came into the possession of the Pfenninger is not entirely clear. It is conceivable that they inherited it from the Wirz, like the Burgstall. In 1682 the house was divided into two parts: one half remained in the possession of Heinrich Pfenninger, the other half was bought by Heinrich Heusser von Bubikon . The division was meticulously recorded in a multi-page contract; the two stated that they wanted to share the knight's house happily with each other . Heinrich Pfenninger sold his part of the house to Jakob Suter from Wädenswil before 1693 - the beginning of a rapidly changing series of changes of hands.
In 1699 the knight's house came into the possession of the wealthy governor and grain and wine merchant Felix Bühler (1637–1699). Owned by the Bühler family, the Ritterhaus developed into the center of a flourishing agricultural center with a focus on viticulture.
Village plan 1790
Illustration from 1848
Ritterhaus, on the right the Burgstall
The knight's house remained in the possession of the Bühler family for 136 years. In 1835, Captain Johann Caspar Bühler sold the house and farm for 20,000 guilders to Rudolf and Jakob Hürlimann from the Kehlhof in Stäfa, who in 1876 sold it to the cattle dealer Jakob Schärer from Hombrechtikon. After a from abroad and large, by hailstorms, cheap foreign wine mildew crisis caused in viticulture had Schärer shortly after 1900 bankruptcy. The knight's house was publicly auctioned in 1904 and came into the possession of the tannery owner Arnold Pünter, who one year later sold it to Ferdinand Wunderli from Meilen.
The last change of ownership took place in 1945: The knight's house came into the possession of the knight's house association founded in 1943, which restored the run-down building in 1949. The house is set up as a warehouse for school classes and youth associations and offers space for 35 people. The basement with exposed walls, massive ceiling beams and a fireplace can be rented for parties and occasions. The knight's house is under the protection of the Swiss Confederation.
The shell limestone fountain was built in 1821 and placed in the courtyard of the knight's house in 1962. He comes from the Zurich Unterland.
chapel
There is a chapel next to the knight's house, the exact origin of which is unknown. The wood for the roof structure was felled in the winter of 1480/81. Its Romanesque long nave, recognizable by the small arched windows, certainly dates back to the Middle Ages. In 1482, on the occasion of a renovation, the late Gothic choir with its pointed arched windows was added and the choir and nave were brought together under one roof. The chapel was first mentioned in a document in 1530.
After the Reformation the building began to crumble and was used as a stable, barn and room for a trot for 400 years . In connection with the restoration of the knight's house, the 18th century barn attached to the hillside was demolished in 1944, the building was restored in 1946 and returned to its original purpose as a chapel. The colored windows in the choir from 1950 come from Max Hunziker. In 1963 an organ was installed.
The ingrown chapel with attached barn
Chapel today
Window by Max Hunziker
House of Knights Association
When the buildings threatened to fall apart, some citizens of Stäfa founded the Ritterhaus-Vereinigung on September 26, 1943 with the aim of acquiring and restoring the group of houses and making them accessible to the public. In 1944, with the help of the canton, municipality and Sparkasse Stäfa, the knight's house and the chapel were acquired. The Ürikon-Stäfa association has almost 1000 members (2010).
literature
- Live and live in the Üriker knight houses ; Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the Ürikon-Stäfa knight house association. Ed. Ritterhaus-Vereinigung; Ürikon-Stäfa 1993
- Fritz Hauswirth: Castles and palaces in Switzerland . Volume 4. Neptun Verlag, Kreuzlingen 1972
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Brochure of the Ritterhaus Association
Coordinates: 47 ° 14 ′ 4 " N , 8 ° 45 ′ 25" E ; CH1903: six hundred ninety-nine thousand eight hundred twenty-four / 232340