Rosenberg Fortress

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rosenberg Fortress
The Rosenberg fortress above the old town of Kronach

The Rosenberg fortress above the old town of Kronach

Alternative name (s): Veste Rosenberg
Creation time : 13th Century
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Almost completely preserved
Construction: Quarry stone, humpback cuboid, cuboid
Place: Kronach
Geographical location 50 ° 14 '41.5 "  N , 11 ° 19' 40.7"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 14 '41.5 "  N , 11 ° 19' 40.7"  E
Height: 378  m above sea level NN
Rosenberg Fortress (Bavaria)
Rosenberg Fortress

The Rosenberg Fortress is a hilltop castle surrounded by a baroque fortress above the Upper Franconian town of Kronach . It is one of the best-preserved fortresses in Bavaria and has never been forcibly captured in its long history, whose origins can be traced back to the 13th century. In addition to the fortress Forchheim she was one of the two national fortresses of the Prince Bishops of Bamberg , the Rosenberg over the centuries from a medieval guard castle to the Renaissance - castle and later extensions to modern fortress complex. With its numerous construction phases, the facility is an outstanding example of the development of defense construction in Germany . Including moats and external works , the built-up area covers around 8.5  ha , together with the former earthworks in the northern apron, the fortified terrain was once 23.6 ha.

Location and structure

The fortress was built at a height of 378  m above sea ​​level on the Rosenberg in a strategically excellent location above the city of Kronach. She dominated the three valleys of the rivers Haßlach , Kronach and Rodach that converge at her feet . This protected and blocked important trade routes to Thuringia and the Franconian Forest . The Rosenberg, which consists of a layer of the Upper Buntsandstein , extends in a north-south direction between the valleys of Haßlach and Kronach. Its south side, on which the fortress and the old town of Kronach are located, drops very steeply, which is why the walls of the outer fortification ring there protrude up to 25 m and compensate for the terrain profile rising towards the inner courtyard of the inner castle . The eastern slope, where a large part of the sandstone used to build the facility was quarried, and the western slope, which was also used as a quarry, drop off steeply. The ridge of the Rosenberg extends north of the fortress . Due to its comparatively flat profile, it once offered attackers the best opportunity to approach the fortress. Therefore, its north side was extensively fortified as the main attack site.

Core castle

South side of the main castle
Floor plan of the Rosenberg Fortress

In its present form, Rosenberg Fortress consists of three concentric fortification rings. The innermost ring forms the core castle with four almost rectangular wings and two northern corner towers, the Schmiedsturm and the northeast tower. Most of these buildings did not get their present appearance until the end of the 16th century, but the foundation walls date partly from the 14th century. The east wing, the so-called prince's building, housed the prince's hall and the prince's kitchen, and above all the living and representative rooms of the prince-bishop. In the basement there is the hospital gate, the oldest still preserved and for a long time the only access gate to the main castle; Only recently have further access options been created via the south and west wings. Originally the hospital gate was protected by a drawbridge , a massive oak door and a wolf pit in the passage. The original wooden gate wing is still preserved, the wolf pit was later removed and the drawbridge was replaced by a stone bridge in the 18th century.

In the north wing and in the west wing, the so-called servants' quarters, there were accommodation for the servants of the prince-bishop and his guests, stables, stores and various workshops. The south wing, which once housed the palace chapel, was built in a different form in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the first half of the 18th century it was largely demolished and rebuilt as the so-called New Baroque style barracks. Museum rooms have been housed in the wing of the building, which is now known as the commanders' building and is the only building in the fortress with a plastered facade, since 1983 .

In the courtyard of the main castle is the built in the 13th century dungeon . The approximately 38 m high tower with a square floor plan has a high entrance around twelve meters high, which was only accessible via a ladder before the addition of a slender stair tower in the 16th century. Originally a Welsche dome formed the upper end of the keep; This was removed by the Bavarian army in the 19th century together with the tower room below and replaced a little later by the current roof. On the south side of the courtyard there is a 45 m deep castle well , which is fed by several springs. There was a separate well for the prince-bishop in an extension to the north-east tower, which supplied the neighboring prince's kitchen.

Middle Bering

Armory gate, above the coat of arms of Prince-Bishop Philipp von Henneberg, flanked by two T-shaped loopholes

Around the main castle runs the irregularly shaped round of the middle ring , which consists of the armory gate, the old and new armory , the provisions house and war powder magazine and a defensive wall with seven towers. This second ring of fortifications, which adjoins the buildings of the inner castle in the south, was built mainly in the late Gothic period towards the end of the 15th century. However - as with the buildings of the core castle - changes and extensions were made again and again in later times. The up to 14 m thick defensive wall in the north of the Bering is called the Henneberg lining wall after its builder, Prince-Bishop Philipp von Henneberg . On the wall, which is not massive but mainly consists of earth and rubble stones, was the garden of the fortress commander, for whom the top floor of the powder tower attached to the outside of the wall served as a garden house.

The salt tower rises on the east side of the fortification ring, originally a shell tower open to the inside of the castle , which was closed in the 16th century for the dry storage of salt and gunpowder . Southwest of the salt tower is the provision house on the inside of the wall ring, in the basement of which there are seven barrel-vaulted rooms. In the 19th century the building was expanded and used as a war powder magazine. The small square between the salt tower, the provision house and the east wing of the main castle is known as the gun yard or riding school. In times of war, when it was not possible to leave the fortress, the horses were moved here to give them a run. At the beginning of the 18th century, the elongated building of the artillery barracks was added to the outside of the Bering at the level of the provision house. Its top floor covers several loopholes in the wall behind it.

The slate tower rises immediately to the west of the provision house and artillery barracks, and another round tower directly south of the commandant's building. This was converted into a staircase in the 18th century when the south wing of the main castle was redesigned. Between the captain's tower and the thick tower in the southwest of the Bering, which was expanded into an artillery tower in the 16th century, is the arsenal gate, which was later expanded into a residential wing. The gate in its basement was built in the 15th century. It is unclear whether it was protected by a drawbridge at that time, since unlike the Spitaltor in the Fürstenbau no remains of a drawbridge or similar can be seen. At least in the 15th and 16th centuries - in addition to the ability to fire attackers from the loopholes of the two flanking towers - a trench in front of the Bering was likely to have existed as a protective measure.

Behind the arsenal gate is the arsenal courtyard, bounded by the two arsenals and the west wing of the core castle, in which there is another draw well about 30 m deep . However, this was only used as a horse trough and water source for the wash house, which was once located in the Zeughaushof and now no longer exists. The two armories, which meet at a slight angle, were mainly used as storage space for weapons and other military equipment. The old armory also housed stables, the offices of the Hauptmannschaft Kronach and the prince-bishop's box floor , in which the tithe grain was kept. On the outside of the kink between the two armories is the match tower, the name of which refers to its former function for the storage of tow and fuses .

Outer bering

Coat of arms of Prince-Bishop Peter Philipp von Dernbach on the St. Heinrich bastion
Great rampart bridge

The third and outermost bering consists of five baroque bastions that were built in the second half of the 17th century with curtains in between . On the outside, this bastionary system forms a regular pentagon , which was considered the ideal form for smaller fortresses in fortress construction; on the inside, the fastening ring takes up the irregular rounding of the middle ring. The bastions are counted clockwise starting at the fortress gate in the south and are named St. Kunigunde (I), St. Valentin (II), St. Lothar (III), St. Philipp (IV) and St. Heinrich (V). Bastions I and V were named after the Bamberg diocese saint Kunigunde of Luxembourg and Heinrich II. The other three bear the names of the prince-bishops involved in the construction. In the 19th century, when Kronach and the fortress fell to Bavaria, the bastions were renamed after the Bavarian king, queen, crown prince, etc.; however, these names could not prevail, so that the original names are used again today. On each of the five bastions there are large-format, three-dimensional heraldic stones with which the participating prince-bishops represented themselves as their builders. The structures are designed so that there are no blind spots ; all places around the bastions can be seen from other positions. The flanks are partially lowered, so that the guns positioned there the area in front of the curtain walls and sprinkle could. For protection, the cannons were withdrawn in gun casemates behind the flanks. At some corner points of the bastions there are bay-shaped guard houses . They are reconstructions from the 20th century; the originals were destroyed in 1806 on the orders of Napoleon .

The only direct connections between the middle and outer Bering are the two ramparts. The approximately 12 m high and 17 m long Great Wall Bridge is located in the northeast of the central moat between the Powder Tower and the Salt Tower, the Small Wall Bridge is in the west to the Old Armory cultivated. Both are made of wood and rest on stone pillars. In the event of war, the bridges were filled with easily combustible material in order to be able to set them on fire when storming the outer ring and thus prevent the enemy from advancing further into the inner areas of the fortress.

The most representative structure of the fortress is the fortress gate located between the two southern bastions, which was hidden in front of the existing rampart wall in 1662 under Prince Bishop Philipp Valentin Voit von Rieneck . Although the construction was carried out by Johann Christein, the design is very likely by Antonio Petrini , who was responsible for the stylistically very similar gates of the Petersberg Citadel in Erfurt , the Mainz Citadel , the Marienberg Fortress in Würzburg and the Burkarder and Zeller Gate of the Würzburg city fortifications was responsible. Another building that is very similar to the Kronacher Tor is the Nürnberger Tor in Forchheim, also built by Christein . The Rosenberg fortress gate consists of three parallel tunnels that do not lead straight through the ramparts, but rather have a kink to prevent the enemy from having a direct view of the core castle and its fire through the gate. Seen from the outside, a smaller tunnel for pedestrians runs to the left of the driving tunnel in the middle. The right tunnel is only accessible from the inside of the ramparts and ends on the outside in a so-called ox eye . Originally the gate was protected by a ditch in front, a drawbridge and a portcullis in the tunnel. After Rosenberg's status as a fortress was lifted in 1867, these protective measures were gradually removed. There are still drainage holes for pitch or hot water at both ends of the driving and pedestrian tunnels, so-called machicolations , and several loopholes through which enemies who had penetrated into the gate hall could be shot at from the other tunnels.

Northern outdoor facilities

Inner curve of the Contregarde Carl
Remains of the former earthworks in the northern apron of the fortress

Outside the two northern bastions, four outer works were built in the 18th century. These served on the one hand as obstacles to approach and on the other hand were intended to offer the two bastions additional protection from direct fire, since the north side of the fortress was the main attack side. Like the bastions, some of the external works bear the names of their builders and are numbered according to their chronological construction sequence.

Directly opposite the St. Lothar Bastion is Plant  VI, the so-called Contregarde Carl, named after Prince-Bishop Friedrich Karl von Schönborn-Buchheim . The inner curve of the counterguard facing the fortress is casemated and near the ground equipped with six loopholes for cannons, through which the entire outer moat could be covered. This is very unusual for the time the work was built, as the defense of a fortress was almost entirely done from the surface of the bastions or outer works. Above the large-format coat of arms of the prince-bishop at the northern tip of the counter-guard there was originally a watchtower, which, like the bastions, was destroyed in 1806 on Napoleon's instructions.

Just west of Contre Guard Carl is working VII, erected to protect the curtain wall between bastions St. Lothar and St. Valentin and after Prince Bishop Johann Philipp Anton von Frankenstein and called Ravelin Anton. With its floor plan reminiscent of an arrowhead , this work has a very unusual design, as otherwise Ravelins almost always have a triangular floor plan. In Germany, similarly unusually shaped ravelins can only be found on Königstein Fortress near Dresden and Ehrenbreitstein Fortress near Koblenz .

To the west of the Ravelin, in front of the St. Valentin bastion, there is Plant VIII, the nameless arsenal , and southeast of the Contregarde Carl, Plant IX, which, like the Ravelin Anton, is named after Prince-Bishop von und zu Frankenstein Philipp. Neither of these correspond in any way to the traditional description of a weapons field, which was mostly an area behind the glacis protected by earthen walls , which was supposed to serve as a rallying point and arsenal for the fortress crew in the event of a failure . The two arsenals of the Rosenberg Fortress, on the other hand, are buildings made of sandstone blocks, which are at the same height as the two other outer works and do not directly border the glacis. Presumably, the irregular ground plans of the structures, which do not allow an assignment to a conventional type of external structure, were the reason for the designation as an arsenal.

The area north of the external works, the glacis, was also included in the fort's defense plans. In addition to various entrenchments , several underground tunnels were created there in preparation for a mine war . In the event of a siege, these tunnels should be driven further below the enemy lines in order to detonate explosives there and thus inflict losses on the enemy. Overall, the area covered with fortifications, including the three moats and the forecourts, is around 8.5 hectares. Together with the earthworks in the northern fortress area, which is now partially covered by forest, the entire fortified terrain was once 23.6 hectares.

history

Fortress gate with the coat of arms of Prince-Bishop Philipp Valentin Voit von Rieneck

Kronach and the surrounding areas belonged to the Bamberg prince-bishops from 1122 until the beginning of the 19th century, when the Bamberg monastery was secularized . In order to consolidate their position of power and secure their territory from the outside world, these Rosenbergs gradually expanded from a medieval protective castle to a modern fortress. In the course of its long history, the fortress has never been forcibly taken by enemies; During the Peasants' War in 1525, however, it was for some time in the hands of the rebellious peasants. From the 17th century onwards, Rosenberg served several times as a refuge for the Bamberg sovereign, the cathedral treasury and the cathedral archive. Most recently, Christoph Franz von Buseck , the last prince-bishop of the bishopric, sought refuge here at the end of the 18th century. After the city and fortress became Bavarian, the complex largely lost its military importance in the 19th century and was finally sold to the city of Kronach in 1888. Today the fortress, which is still the sole property of the city, is mainly used for tourism.

History in the Bamberg Monastery

The founder of the later Rosenberg Fortress was possibly Bishop Otto I of Bamberg . He had received Kronach and the surrounding areas, the so-called “praedium crana”, in 1122 from Emperor Heinrich V as a gift for his mediating work in the Worms Concordat and, according to the register of the Michelsberg Monastery in Bamberg, left a “stone house and a tower near Kronach around 1130 “Erect. However, it has not yet been possible to prove archaeologically that these structures actually stood on the Rosenberg. Possibly they were in the area of ​​a settlement built in the eighth or ninth century, the remains of which were discovered in 1989 around three kilometers north of the Kronach core city between today's districts of Birkach and Friesen . Among other things, the stone foundations of a tower castle were found there, which were dated to the twelfth century.

The name Rosenberg was first mentioned in a document as "Rosenberc" in a letter from Pope Innocent IV on June 12, 1249. Bishop Heinrich I von Bilversheim had pledged the city and its surrounding area to Otto II von Schaumberg in 1246 and the Pope should mediate in the resulting dispute. The "castrum in Ronssenberg" was mentioned in the Langenstadt Treaty of 1260, which regulated the return of the pledged areas to the Bamberg Monastery. Accordingly, a castle must have stood on the Rosenberg in the middle of the 13th century. Little is known about their appearance, however. Over the next two centuries, the fortifications of this castle were reinforced to keep up with the advancing development of military technology. At the end of the 15th century , Prince-Bishop Philipp von Henneberg had a second wall ring with several towers built around the existing buildings.

During the Peasants' War in 1525 , the Rosenberg was in the hands of the rebellious peasants for some time, as the council and citizens of Kronach, led by Prince - Bishop Kunz Dietmann, took part in the uprising and surrendered town and castle without a fight. However, the rebellion of the Kronach was directed primarily against the knighthood and not against the Bamberg sovereign. After the uprising was put down on June 26, 1525, Prince-Bishop Weigand von Redwitz had four of the leaders executed; Dietmann kept his life, but had to pay 800  guilders to the prince-bishop. The city of Kronach was also fined 2,000 guilders.

Just a few decades later, the city and fortress had to fight off an attacker again in the Second Margrave War : Albrecht II. Alcibiades , Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach , marched on October 10, 1553 in front of Kronach and demanded the surrender of the city. Since the Kronach refused and a siege of the fortified city with his relatively small troop was not possible, Alcibiades had to leave without having achieved anything. The margrave had previously visited the remaining areas of the bishopric of Bamberg much worse: Among other things, he took the city of Forchheim in the south of the bishopric and threatened the episcopal city of Bamberg, which was not protected by a city fortification and which finally had to give up on May 19, 1552.

As a reaction to the experiences from these two wars, the fortifications of Rosenberg were further strengthened after the defeat of the margrave. Towards the end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century, a third ring of four bastions , mainly made of earth and wood, was created outside of the two existing fastening rings . In addition, under Prince-Bishop Veit II von Würtzburg, the castle complex was expanded into a residential palace in the Renaissance style. The aim was to establish Rosenberg as the third residence of the Bamberg prince-bishops, alongside Bamberg and Forchheim.

South side of the St. Kunigunde bastion

The Thirty Years' War was a great test for the fortress and the town of Kronach. In the years 1632 to 1634, the inhabitants had to fight off several attacks and sieges by the Swedes and their German allies, including Coburg and Brandenburg-Kulmbach. Due to the determined resistance of the Kronachers - especially the women - the attackers were successfully repulsed. For their bravery in defending the city and fortress, the Kronachers were awarded a new city coat of arms and various privileges for mayors and city councilors by Prince-Bishop Melchior Otto Voit of Salzburg in 1651. The citizens reciprocated in 1654 by erecting an honorary pillar for the bishop. Since 1633, a Swedish procession through the old town and fortress has been held annually to commemorate the successful defense against the attacks .

Although the city and fortress could be successfully defended, it became apparent that the advanced defenses no longer met the requirements of military technology. Therefore, immediately after the end of the war and the withdrawal of the Swedes from southern Germany, the modernization of the fortress began. In the second half of the 17th century the four existing bastions were demolished and replaced by a defense system made up of five baroque bastions . In the middle of the 18th century, four outer works were placed in front of the two bastions in the north of the fortress as an additional protective measure on the main attack side.

These defenses were able to prove themselves for the first time in the Seven Years' War : on May 10, 1759, Prussian troops under Major General Karl Gottfried von Knobloch approached the city. They camped on the Kreuzberg to the east of the Rosenberg and fired at Kronach from there. However, the field artillery used was not strong enough to reach the fortress, and the projectiles did little damage in the city itself. In return, the guns of the Rosenberg Fortress reached as far as the Prussian positions, so that von Knobloch had the siege broken and his troops continued south.

History in Bavaria

Sentry box of the St. Kunigunde bastion

With the secularization of the bishopric of Bamberg, Kronach and the fortress fell to the Electorate of Bavaria in 1803 (de facto as early as 1802) . Major changes in the type of warfare with the abandonment of sieges and the turn to warfare of movement and the development of ever more powerful offensive weapons ensured that fortifications increasingly lost their military importance in the 19th century. Only because of its strategically excellent location on the edge of the Bavarian dominion area, Rosenberg initially remained as a garrison location. Already in 1805 practically the entire equipment of the fortress was transferred to Würzburg or sold.

At the beginning of October 1806, the Rosenberg Fortress served as a camp for the army of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte , who began his campaign against Prussia from here . On his orders, the 14 guard houses at the corner points of the bastions and the guard house at the northern tip of the Contregarde Carl were removed. Napoleon wanted to use the fortress as a cover for retreat if his plans failed and feared that the bay-shaped structures could serve as target points for guns for enemy troops. Part of the destroyed sentry box was reconstructed in the 20th century.

In the following decades, the fortress was put under arms several times, the last time in the German Civil War of 1866. However, in none of the cases there were significant fighting. After Rosenberg's status as a fortress was officially revoked by the War Ministry on May 10, 1867 , the fortress was still used as a prison until 1875, which housed prisoners of war from the Franco-German War of 1870/71 . On May 14, 1888, the city of Kronach purchased the 23.6 hectare facility for 32,000  marks , thus saving it from being razed .

During the First World War , the Bavarian Army maintained a prisoner-of-war camp for officers in the fortress. For this purpose, a comprehensive repair of the now largely empty rooms and the equipping with new facilities for the accommodation of around 90 prisoners and their guards were necessary. In the four years in which the camp existed, a total of 98 French officers and 24 soldiers, 206 Russian officers and 64 soldiers, 29 English officers, as well as a Belgian officer and eight soldiers were housed there. In comparison to the simple crew ranks, the officers enjoyed various discounts in terms of accommodation and food. In addition, they were allowed to take walks outside the fortress walls if they gave their word of honor not to attempt any escape. Breach of this word of honor was punishable by death under the Military Penal Act . From July 20 to November 21, 1917, the captured officers also included the French captain Charles de Gaulle , who later became General and President of France . De Gaulle did not give the required word of honor and after two escape attempts, for which he was each punished with 60 days of stricter arrest, he was first transferred to a camp in the fortress of Ingolstadt and later to the Wülzburg near Weißenburg in Bavaria . Following the dissolution of the Kronach camp in November 1918, the fortress served as a civilian apartment, including for the mayor and senior officials.

During the Second World War , Rosenberg served as a labor camp from 1942 to 1944 for the accommodation of Polish and Soviet forced laborers who were used in the Rosenthal porcelain factory in Kronach to manufacture industrial porcelain . Towards the end of the Second World War, parts for the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter were to be produced at the fortress under the code name "GeKro" (Kronach prison) . For this purpose, the Todt Organization made various changes to the casemates of the St. Lothar and St. Philipp bastions and concrete work was carried out between Contregarde Carl and Waffenplatz Philipp. However, the planned production halls were never completed and put into operation, which largely spared the fortress and town from being bombed by allied bomber units. After 1945 the fortress temporarily served as a refugee camp, later several permanent apartments were set up, some of which lasted until the 1980s.

Todays use

Commander building
Crana Historica 2014: Reenactment of an attack on the fortress during the Thirty Years War

The Rosenberg Fortress is now a listed building . It is still in the sole ownership of the city of Kronach and is a heavy burden on its budget. From 1980 to the beginning of 2017, a total of around 40 million euros was spent on maintenance and refurbishment and the tourist development of the facility. The construction work, which is based on the so-called fortress utilization concept adopted in 2008, is expected to be completed in the mid-2020s. The annual budget is one million euros. In the years 2013 to 2015, the renovation of the fortress was funded by the Free State of Bavaria with 4.2 million euros; the city's own contribution for this period amounted to 250,000 euros. In the years 2016 to 2018, around 90% of the renovation costs were covered by subsidies from the Free State.

The Franconian Gallery , a branch museum of the Bavarian National Museum , has been located in the south wing of the main castle, the so-called commanders' building . Above all, Franconian art from the 13th to the 16th centuries is presented on around 1000 m² of exhibition space, which is spread over 13 rooms on three floors. The exhibits include works by Wolfgang Katzheimer , Adam Kraft , Hans von Kulmbach , Paul Lautensack and Veit Stoss . Separate departments of the gallery are dedicated to the work of Tilman Riemenschneider and Lucas Cranach from Kronach and their workshops. In addition to the works of Franconian artists, various exhibits from France and northwest Germany are shown. A part of the east wing, the so-called prince's building, has also been used as a museum since 1994. Changing special exhibitions are shown there, including contemporary art. The remaining rooms of the east wing and the north and west wings are used by the fortress hostel.

The Rosenberg Festival has been taking place every year since 1995 on an open-air stage on the St. Heinrich Bastion , where various classics of theater literature are presented in modern, popular productions. The games were originally brought to life by Daniel Leistner and Ulrike Mahr under the name Faust Festival and until 2015 always included performances of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's play Faust. A tragedy. , from which the festival owes its name. After the 2015 season, the contract with Daniel Leistner, who had been director of the festival until then, was not extended by the city of Kronach. The festival at Rosenberg Fortress continued in 2016 with a different concept, a new management team and a new name.

The music festival Die fortress rockt has been taking place in the outer moat every year since 2007. It is organized by the Kronach youth and culture club Struwwelpeter and is aimed primarily at young people and young adults. The rose and garden fair has also been held in the middle moat since 2007 . Embedded in a colorful supporting program, products and information on all things gardening are presented here. As part of the Summer Academy Cranach workshops , various artist courses for laypeople are offered annually in July / August. Every two years since 2008 (every even year) the Crana Historica festival has taken place at the fortress, which brings the history of the city and fortress closer to people with a field camp, markets, an arms show, music and equestrian games. At the annual Kronach lights festival , the fortress is mostly integrated into the so-called light path through the old town of Kronach.

There is also an information and documentation center on the history of the fortress and a stonemason museum. There is also a fortress restaurant, a cafeteria, a registry office (wedding room) and various event halls that can be rented for weddings and events of all kinds. Daily (except Mondays) there are guided tours through the above-ground and some of the underground facilities.

In October 2018, the fortress and the old town of Kronach served as the backdrop for the film Resistance , a biopic about the French pantomime Marcel Marceau .

Building history

Thick tower
Keep with the stair tower added in 1571

With its numerous construction phases, which range from the 13th to the 18th century, the Rosenberg Fortress, which has been almost completely preserved in its original structure, is an outstanding example of the development of German defense construction from the Middle Ages to the Baroque . However, it is not always easy to assign the various construction measures to a specific client. Although there are numerous building inscriptions and coats of arms in the entire complex, which bear witness to the construction activities of the prince-bishops, these coats of arms can often be found in close proximity to one another, especially in the area of ​​the inner castle. Presumably, the coats of arms of abandoned buildings were reintegrated when new buildings were erected in order to emphasize the old age of the entire structure, which ultimately increased the owner's reputation.

Beginnings and late Gothic expansion

Little is known about the appearance of the castle when it was first mentioned in the middle of the 13th century. The approximately 38 m high keep in the inner courtyard of today's core castle was probably built in the second half of the 13th century under Bishop Berthold von Leiningen . It is the oldest preserved building in the fortress; the stair tower on its south side and the roof dome, however, date from a later time. At the end of the 14th century, a construction phase followed, presumably under Prince-Bishop Lamprecht von Brunn , in which the castle was given a relatively regular rectangular floor plan. The stone outer walls of the inner fortification ring, which previously consisted only of simple palisades , and the two corner towers in the north, which were later heavily modified, the smith's tower and the northeast tower, are likely to have come from this construction period. In the 15th century, the castle was supplemented by other buildings and the defense capability improved. The oldest surviving coat of arms comes from Georg I von Schaumberg , Prince-Bishop from 1459 to 1475. It is located on the east wing of the main castle above the hospital gate, which was rebuilt in 1468 during Schaumberg's reign. The coat of arms of the prince-bishop can also be found on the two northern corner towers, so that they may have undergone changes at the time.

Another construction phase followed under Prince-Bishop Philipp von Henneberg , who ruled from 1475 to 1487. He made a second to the existing castle Bering build the north in the form of an approximately 14 m thick drywall is executed. Several round towers were erected outside this new ring, which adjoins the main castle building in the south. Seven of these once presumably nine towers are still preserved today - some in a significantly modified form. In the west, the prince-bishop had a large armory built in 1477 , which was extended in the 16th century, and in 1486 the predecessor of today's commanders' building was built in the south. In the south-west, a new gate was set up between the thick tower and the captain's tower, today's Zeughaustor.

Renaissance extensions

Salt tower

The construction activity under Prince-Bishop Weigand von Redwitz , during whose reign from 1522 to 1556 the Peasants' War and the Second Margrave War fell, concentrated mainly on the inner castle. So he had changes made to the two northern corner towers, the Schmiedsturm and the northeast tower, and in the vicinity of the hospital gate on the east side. In 1532, to the right of the gate, a polygonal protruding strike weir was built, from which the area in front of the gate could be under fire. Two towers of the middle Bering also underwent changes under von Redwitz. In 1552, the salt tower on the east side of the complex - until then a shell tower that was open to the interior of the castle  - was closed for the dry storage of salt and gunpowder and raised by one storey. The thick tower in the southwest followed in 1553: it was equipped with walls up to four meters thick for use as an artillery tower and raised to five floors.

During the reign of Prince-Bishop Veit II von Würtzburg from 1561 to 1577, the main castle largely got its current appearance under the master builder Daniel Engelhardt , who had previously worked on the reconstruction of the Plassenburg in Kulmbach , which was destroyed after the Margrave War . It was converted into a four-wing complex in the style of a renaissance castle in order to be able to serve as an episcopal residential complex. Several buildings of the core castle, including the two north towers and the east and south wings, were raised by additional floors. In the inner courtyard, stair towers were built in the northeast, northwest and southwest corners and on the east wing, which lead to the upper floors. The keep was also given a slender stair tower on the south side in 1571. The slate tower, located directly southeast of the east wing, was also increased in 1564, the core of which had already been built in the 15th century under Philipp von Henneberg as part of the second ring.

Under Prince-Bishop Ernst von Mengersdorf , who ruled from 1583 to 1591, the New Armory was built between 1588 and 1591 north of the existing armory. The two buildings meet at a slight angle; A new stair tower was built on the inside of the kink. The prince-bishop also had the old armory, which was still one-story, raised by two more floors. This work was not completed until 1595 under Neidhardt von Thüngen , the successor of Mengersdorfs. During the reign of Johann Philipp von Gebsattel , Prince-Bishop from 1599 to 1609, changes were made to the arsenal gate building, where a new residential wing was built.

There were also first attempts at a bastionary fortification of the castle complex in the late 16th century. However, these structures proved to be of little future; they were therefore removed again in favor of the baroque bastions built in the 17th century . Very few traces of these Renaissance fortifications can still be seen today. Sometimes there is only evidence of their existence in the form of historical images.

Baroque bastion

Match tower and old armory

In preparation for the Thirty Years' War , two earth bastions were built in the north of the fortress - in addition to the fortification measures that had already taken place at the end of the 16th century - in front of which a neck ditch , today's outer moat, was dug in 1626 . Although the city and fortress could be successfully defended, it became apparent that the advanced defenses, consisting mainly of wood and simple earthen walls, no longer corresponded to the military technology of the time. Therefore, immediately after the end of the war and the withdrawal of the Swedes from southern Germany, the modernization of the fortress began.

During the baroque bastion expansion of the Rosenberg, begun in the 1650s under Prince-Bishop Philipp Valentin Voit von Rieneck , the builders aimed for the fortress to be in the shape of a regular pentagon; in fortress construction this was considered the ideal form for smaller fortresses. First, the two bastions in the north-west and east of the fortress were built, as the previous buildings at roughly the same place had suffered badly during the Thirty Years' War. The foundation stone for Bastion II, St. Valentin, was laid on June 26, 1656; the construction was completed after only two years of construction. Bastion IV began on April 24, 1659; construction work on it dragged on until 1663. On March 22nd, 1668, part of the building, originally called St. Sebastian, collapsed again, presumably due to insufficient drainage. The bastion, now known as St. Philip, therefore had to be renewed under Prince-Bishop Marquard Sebastian Schenk von Stauffenberg by 1693. The foundation stone for Bastion I, St. Kunigunde, took place on October 10, 1663. It was built by the Italian builder Andrea Juliat. The construction of Bastion V, St. Heinrich, began on August 3, 1671. The work on the wall, which was up to 25 meters high, dragged on until 1689; At this point in time, Philipp Valentin Voit von Rieneck, under whose rule the construction originally began, had already been succeeded by two other prince-bishops , Peter Philipp von Dernbach and Marquard Sebastian Schenk von Stauffenberg. In 1699, under Prince-Bishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn St. Lothar, the last bastion in the north of the fortress was completed. It replaced the weaker bastion of St. Alexander, which was built under Voit von Rieneck in 1660 and which had collapsed. The builder Julius Mondalto was responsible for the construction work on St. Lothar. With the fortress gate built under Philipp Valentin Voit von Rieneck in 1662 the most representative structure of the fortress was built between the two southern bastions.

Extensions in the 18th century

Artillery barracks

In 1701, under builder Johann Christein, the elongated construction of the artillery barracks was built directly east of the slate tower, which is leaned against the southeast side of the middle ring. The upper floor of the building was originally made of half-timbered construction, which was only replaced by today's ashlar masonry in 1848. The end of the building with a toothing on the north side suggests that a later extension to the salt tower further north was planned. Due to its comparatively light construction, the barracks would have offered little protection in the event of an attack.

Johann Maximilian von Welsch , who worked as a master builder for the Archbishop of Mainz and the Bamberg Prince-Bishop Lothar Franz von Schönborn, inspected the fortress several times between 1706 and 1724 in his role as senior building director. It is unclear to what extent the Kronach-born von Welsch himself was active as a master builder on the Rosenberg.

Under Prince-Bishop Friedrich Karl von Schönborn-Buchheim , the south wing of the inner palace was converted into a new barracks between 1730 and 1733. For this purpose, most of the previous building that was built under Philipp von Henneberg in 1486 was demolished; The palace chapel in the eastern third was preserved. A round tower standing directly south of the new barracks was converted into a staircase. The work was carried out by the famous Baroque master builder Balthasar Neumann , who was responsible for the Vierzehnheiligen basilica near Bad Staffelstein and the Würzburg Residence , among other things . The interior of the building, now known as the commanders' building, was heavily modified in the 20th century for use as a museum.

In the 1740s and 1750s were by Johann Jakob Michael Küchel the fortress, the four in the northern outworks erected. Initially, the Contregarde Carl was built under Prince-Bishop Friedrich Karl von Schönborn-Buchheim from 1741 to 1743 , and Balthasar Neumann was also involved in its construction. The counter-guard was followed by the Ravelin Anton and the Waffenplatz Philipp, which were built between 1746 and 1753 during the reign of Johann Philipp Anton von und zu Frankenstein . The unnamed arsenal in front of the St. Valentin bastion was last built around 1750. Originally only the Contregarde Carl located in front of the St. Lothar bastion was planned. Since the counterguard alone was not enough to secure the wide ridge north of the fortress, a total of four works were ultimately built. From the construction plans that have been preserved, it can be seen that the construction of further preliminary works was planned. For example, the two southern bastions of the fortress were to be protected with a counter guard each and the fortress gate in between with a ravelin. During investigations on the masonry of the fortress in 2002, a search cut on the Ravelin Anton found that the outer structure - unlike the bastions, for example - was not created by the construction of walls that were filled with earth, rubble stones or the like. Instead, trenches were cut into the rock around the planned structure and the rock core excavated in this way was covered with sandstone blocks. This type of construction is also assumed to be the case with the other outworks.

Changes in the 19th and 20th centuries

Remains of the concrete work of the Second World War at the Waffenplatz Philipp

After Kronach became the property of the Electorate of Bavaria in 1802 , the Bavarian Army only carried out minor renovations and extensions to the fortress. A bulletproof well house was built above the well in the inner courtyard in 1813, the provisions house on the southeast side of the middle ring was expanded and the original Welsh roof of the keep including the tower room below was demolished in order to set up a gun position there. Soon after, a roof was put on the tower, which was not designed for such loads. In 1869 the drawbridge and moat in front of the fortress gate were removed and replaced with the current access route. The fountain house was demolished again in 1919.

The last time the fortress was converted for military purposes towards the end of the Second World War . Under the code name "GeKro" (Kronach prison), production halls were to be built for the planned manufacture of parts for the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter . It was planned to provide an area of ​​8500 m²: 2500 m² of pure production area, 1500 m² for storage and subordinate production facilities, 1500 m² for administration and 3000 m² for accommodation and catering. From September 1, 1944, the offices were mainly set up in the juvenile detention center building south of the fortress, which was originally built around 1800 as a prince-bishop's box floor and today serves as a correctional facility. At first only an area of ​​around 1250 m² was available on the fortress, which was to be enlarged by various expansion and renovation measures by the Todt Organization . The casemate of the St. Philip bastion was provided with an intermediate ceiling made of concrete and a supply opening was broken in the outer wall, which was closed again after the end of the war. The casemate of the St. Lothar Bastion was also rebuilt; two cannon loopholes in the outer wall were closed, a third was broken out as an access opening. In addition to this completed work, various preparatory work was carried out on the casemate of the Contregarde Carl and in the trench between the counterguard and the Philipp arsenal. Supporting foundations made of concrete were built there, which were later to carry a roof. The trenches between the other fortress frontworks and the entire area of ​​the outer moat between Contregarde Carl, Waffenplatz Philipp and Bastion St. Lothar should also be roofed over. These plans were not implemented until the end of the war and the parts of the production facilities that had already been completed were never put into operation, which meant that the fortress was spared from targeted bombing by the Allies.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the interior of the commandant's building was first completely gutted for use as a museum and then rebuilt and furnished according to the original floor plan.

Conversions in the 21st century

In the 2010s, in coordination with the Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation, numerous renovation and reconstruction work was carried out on the fortress, which is under monument protection , for the tourist development and barrier-free access . The west wing, which had been vacant for a long time, and the north wing, which had already been occupied by the fortress hostel, were renovated, modernized and expanded for use as a hotel by 2019 . The rooms in the east wing, which the hostel is already using, are to follow in the coming years. The two armories have also been renovated since 2013. An event hall designed for around 200 people was built in the New Armory by 2019; parts of the Old Armory are to be used as a museum after the work is completed. In 2019, additional parking spaces for cars and buses were created in the outer moat between the St. Lothar and St. Philipp bastions. From there, access to the fortress is to be made barrier-free until 2023 via a passage created during the Second World War in the north wall of the St. Philipp bastion, which was closed again after the end of the war.

Commanders

The task of the commandant of the fortress was occupied in personal union with that of the Oberamtmann in the office of Kronach . In 1739 the military and civil functions were separated. The new military commander was Christoph Karl Maximilian von Egloffstein , and Johann Joseph von Künsberg became the chief magistrate . Von Egloffstein was transferred as commander of Forchheim Fortress in 1746.

Commanders were:

literature

  • Daniel Burger : The fortress Rosenberg ob Kronach . In: House of Bavarian History (Hrsg.): Kronach (=  Edition Bavaria . Volume 6 ). Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-7917-2403-4 , p. 14-25 .
  • Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortifications . Ed .: Tourism and event management of the city of Kronach. Helmut Angles Druck & Verlag, Kronach 2002, ISBN 3-00-009879-8 .
  • Bernd Wollner: Rosenberg Fortress in Kronach (=  The historical place . No. 118 ). Kai Homilius Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-89706-117-1 .
  • Tilmann Breuer : The Rosenberg Fortress (=  DKV art guide . No. 356 ). 5th, revised edition. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2002.

Web links

Commons : Fortress Rosenberg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Daniel Burger: The fortress Rosenberg ob Kronach. In: Kronach. Regensburg 2011, p. 15f.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, p. 18f.
  3. ↑ a b Measurement of the built-up area in the BayernAtlas
  4. ↑ a b c Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 14f.
  5. ↑ Information boards of the Bavarian State Office for the Environment on the soil nature trail north of Rosenberg Fortress. ( PDF file; 19.2 MB )
  6. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 50.
  7. ↑ a b c Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortifications. Kronach 2002, pp. 65-67.
  8. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, p. 63.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h Daniel Burger: The fortress Rosenberg ob Kronach. In: Kronach. Regensburg 2011, pp. 22-24.
  10. ↑ a b c d Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortifications. Kronach 2002, pp. 67-69.
  11. ↑ a b c Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortifications. Kronach 2002, pp. 63-65.
  12. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, p. 65.
  13. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, pp. 60f.
  14. ^ A b Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 19f.
  15. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, p. 59f.
  16. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, p. 61.
  17. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, p. 62.
  18. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 71.
  19. ↑ a b c d e f g h Daniel Burger: The fortress Rosenberg ob Kronach. In: Kronach. Regensburg 2011, p. 16f.
  20. ↑ a b c Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortifications. Kronach 2002, p. 55.
  21. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 57f.
  22. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, pp. 55f.
  23. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, p. 57.
  24. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, pp. 73f.
  25. ↑ a b c d e f g Daniel Burger: The fortress Rosenberg ob Kronach. In: Kronach. Regensburg 2011, p. 21.
  26. ↑ a b c Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, pp. 20-22.
  27. ↑ a b c d e Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, pp. 34-37.
  28. ↑ a b c d e f Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, pp. 38-40.
  29. ↑ a b Information board of the Lions Club Kronach on or near the property.
  30. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 72.
  31. ↑ a b c d Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortifications. Kronach 2002, p. 53.
  32. ^ Bernhard Peter: Baroque fortress Forchheim: Nürnberger Tor. Retrieved August 16, 2012 .
  33. ^ Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 21.
  34. ↑ a b c d e Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, pp. 78-83.
  35. ↑ a b c d Eckbert Arneth: The northern external works. An under-noticed area of ​​the Kronach fortress . In: Colloquium Historicum Wirsbergense (Hrsg.): Geschichte am Obermain . tape 22 (1999/2000) . HO Schulze, Lichtenfels 2000, ISBN 978-3-87735-163-5 , p. 139-150 .
  36. ↑ a b c d e f g Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortifications. Kronach 2002, pp. 23-28.
  37. ↑ a b c d e Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, pp. 41-43.
  38. ↑ a b c d e Daniel Burger: The fortress Rosenberg ob Kronach. In: Kronach. Regensburg 2011, p. 24f.
  39. ↑ a b c Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortifications. Kronach 2002, pp. 19-22.
  40. ^ Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 2.
  41. ↑ Finds show: Kronach is 250 years older. inFranken.de, November 20, 2019, accessed on November 23, 2019 .
  42. ↑ Manfred Raum: The amateur archaeologist and the solution to the riddle. Neue Presse Coburg , November 22, 2019, accessed on November 23, 2019 .
  43. ^ Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 3.
  44. ^ A b Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 6.
  45. ↑ a b c d e Daniel Burger: The fortress Rosenberg ob Kronach. In: Kronach. Regensburg 2011, p. 18f.
  46. ^ A b Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 8f.
  47. ↑ a b c Daniel Burger: The fortress Rosenberg ob Kronach. In: Kronach. Regensburg 2011, pp. 19-21.
  48. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, pp. 28-31.
  49. ↑ Heike Schülein: Commemoration with “Kawumm” . In: New Press Coburg . January 23, 2018, p. 13 .
  50. ↑ Heike Schülein: Kronach women lead the way . In: New Press Coburg . June 8, 2015, p. 13 .
  51. ↑ Timo Feuerpfeil: The royal officer prison camp Rosenberg-Kronach . In: Bernd Wollner, Hermann Wich (Hrsg.): Historisches Stadtlesebuch: Kronach - 1000 years of history of a city and its inhabitants . 1000 Years of Kronach Association, Kronach 2003, ISBN 3-00-011351-7 , p. 392-407 .
  52. ^ Anja Weigelt: Fortress Rosenberg: Forced labor camp from 1942 to 1944 . Ed .: Kreisheimatpflege Kronach (=  local history yearbook of the district Kronach . Volume 26 ). 2013, ISBN 978-3-9803467-9-5 , pp. 141-147 .
  53. ^ Nicole Julien-Mann: At night in the museum . In: New Press Coburg . January 18, 2017, p. 9 .
  54. ↑ a b Gabriele Fölsche: Fortification renovation is on schedule. Neue Presse Coburg , September 8, 2012, accessed on October 10, 2012 .
  55. ↑ Petra Bordasch: Millions for the Rosenberg Fortress. Neue Presse Coburg, November 9, 2012, accessed on November 9, 2012 .
  56. ^ Mathias Mathes: Fortification renovation takes almost 40 years . In: New Press Coburg . December 8, 2015, p. 13 ( online ).
  57. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, p. 45f.
  58. ↑ Franconian Gallery Kronach. Bavarian National Museum, accessed on October 2, 2012 .
  59. ↑ Information brochure of the Franconian Gallery ( PDF document; 3.8 MB )
  60. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 44.
  61. ↑ Bianca Hennings: A hint from the city council - The end of the Faust Festival: Next year there will be the Rosenberg Festival . In: New Press Coburg . Local edition Kronach. September 29, 2015, p. 7 .
  62. ↑ On Saturday the fortress rocks again. inFranken.de, May 23, 2011, accessed on October 21, 2012 .
  63. ↑ Petra Bordasch: Much praise for "The fortress rocks". Neue Presse Coburg , October 16, 2012, accessed on October 21, 2012 .
  64. ↑ The past of "Fortress Rocks". Struwwelpeter youth and culture meeting place, accessed on October 21, 2012 .
  65. ↑ Celebrate a “cultural folk festival”. Neue Presse Coburg , May 23, 2007, accessed on November 5, 2012 .
  66. ↑ Rosenmesse develops into a festival. inFranken.de, July 19, 2010, accessed November 5, 2012 .
  67. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 46f.
  68. ^ Crana Historica: The Project. Historical Association Kronach e. V., accessed on October 3, 2012 .
  69. ^ Nicole Julien-Mann: New light robes for the fortress. In: New Press Coburg. March 2, 2018, accessed March 2, 2018 .
  70. ↑ In Kronach France of the 1940s comes to life . In: New Press Coburg . October 17, 2018, p. 9 ( Online [accessed November 23, 2019]).
  71. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, pp. 90-93.
  72. ^ Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, pp. 4–6.
  73. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 58f.
  74. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, pp. 74f.
  75. ↑ a b c d e Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 8
  76. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 70.
  77. ↑ a b Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous defense system. Kronach 2002, p. 76f.
  78. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 83f.
  79. ^ A b Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 9
  80. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 76.
  81. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, pp. 84f.
  82. ↑ Bernd Wollner: The Rosenberg Fortress: A guide and companion through Kronach's famous fortification. Kronach 2002, p. 81f.
  83. ^ Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, p. 9f.
  84. ^ Tilmann Breuer: The fortress Rosenberg. Munich / Berlin 2002, pp. 11-14.
  85. ↑ Philip SC Caston: The ramparts of the fortress Rosenberg - To the state of research . In: Bernd Wollner, Hermann Wich (Hrsg.): Historisches Stadtlesebuch . Kronach 2003, p. 540-547 .
  86. ^ Philip SC Caston, Ursula Huber: Building and construction history of the baroque ramparts of the Rosenberg fortress in Kronach. (No longer available online.) September 24, 2013, archived from the original on March 13, 2016 ; accessed on February 16, 2015 .
  87. ^ Daniel Burger: The fortress Rosenberg ob Kronach. In: Kronach. Regensburg 2011, p. 21f.
  88. ↑ Christian Winter: GeKro - Attempt to use the Rosenberg Fortress for armaments purposes in the Second World War . In: Bernd Wollner, Hermann Wich (Hrsg.): Historisches Stadtlesebuch . Kronach 2003, p. 423-431 .
  89. ↑ Julia Knauer: Today construction site, tomorrow a hotel . In: New Press Coburg . March 13, 2019, p. 15 .
  90. ↑ Maria Löffler: The biggest chunk is done . In: New Press Coburg . July 5, 2019, p. 11 ( Online [accessed November 23, 2019]).
  91. ^ Christian Kreuzer: Hotel flair in the fortress hostel . In: New Press Coburg . April 11, 2014, p. 7 .
  92. ^ Michael Bock: Fortress as a major construction site. Neue Presse Coburg, local edition Kronach, July 24, 2013, p. 7
  93. ^ Maria Löffler: Fortress has barrier-free access . In: New Press Coburg . 23 July 2019, p. 9 .
  94. ↑ Yannick Seiler: Fortress should become more tangible . In: New Press Coburg . April 5, 2019, p. 9 .
  95. ↑ Claus Fackler: Stiftsadel and Geistliche Territorien 1670-1803, 2006, ISBN 978-3-8306-7268-5 , p. 85. u. a.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on November 26, 2012 in this version .