Aarau Castle

Aarau Castle
	Schlössli seen from the southeast
Creation time :	13th century
Conservation status:	Received or received substantial parts
Standing position :	Ministeriale
Construction:	Limestones, boulders
Place:	Aarau
Geographical location	47 ° 23 '39.9 " N , 8 ° 2' 42.8" E Coordinates: 47 ° 23 '39.9 " N , 8 ° 2' 42.8" E ; CH1903: six hundred and forty-five thousand seven hundred ninety-seven / two hundred and forty-nine thousand four hundred and sixty-five
Height:	385 m above sea level M.

The Schlössli is a castle in the Swiss city of Aarau . It is located on the northeastern edge of the old town, dates from the 13th century and is the oldest surviving building in the city. Today it houses the Aarau City Museum.

building

The core of the complex is a well-preserved, 25 meter high medieval residential tower . It consists of limestone and coarsely hewn boulders stacked on top of one another ( megalithic masonry ). Its square floor plan has a side length of 11.25 meters. The original masonry has been preserved up to a height of 17 meters. From the second floor onwards, the corners of the building have a rough edge. In the south wall, the windows on the second and third floors are in the late Gothic style. The top floor was added in 1790 and was originally plastered. A hipped roof forms the end .

A palace from the late 13th or early 14th century is built on the north side of the Schlössli . Its basement has a wall thickness similar to that of the tower, while the two upper floors are much thinner. A hipped roof rises above it . The stair tower on the east side also dates from 1790. It can be reached via a covered wooden bridge from the 19th century that spans the former neck ditch .

In the immediate vicinity is the Haus zum Schlossgarten , which served as the seat of government of the Helvetic Republic in 1798 and today houses the Forum Schlossplatz.

history

According to dendrochronological studies, the Schlössli was built in the late 13th century when the city of Aarau was founded by the Counts of Kyburg . Perhaps it was planned together with the city layout. Earlier studies assumed it was formed in the 11th century. After the Kyburgs died out in 1263, the town and the castle inhabited by ministerials came under the rule of the Habsburgs . The Schlössli was first mentioned in a document as "the old tower" in 1334. This designation served to distinguish it from the somewhat younger Rore tower, which is now integrated into the town hall .

The residents of the castle changed often. Until the middle of the 16th century it was mostly knight families, even after the conquest of Aargau by the Confederates in 1415. These were the lords of Kienberg , the lords of Heidegg, the Sumer family and the lords of Luternau . The Schlössli later served as the elegant residence of various middle-class families from Aarau, including the Schmuziger and the Hunziker. At the beginning of the 17th century, the superstructure of the hall was renewed and the tower was covered with a hipped roof. The Bernese fortress builder Valentin Friderich carried out a renovation inside in 1624 and had the masonry repaired.

In 1790, the silk ribbon manufacturer Johann Rudolf Meyer acquired the Schlössli. He had it raised to include today's top floor. There was also a new roof and a staircase on the east side. The building played a role in the cartographic ventures funded by Meyer. Then it housed a boarding house for students in district school , which in 1802 in the neighboring administration building was opened.

In 1808 the castle came into the possession of the Herosé family, and in 1862 it was acquired by Colonel Emil Rothpletz . From his inheritance it was donated to the community of Aarau in 1930. After a thorough renovation in 1931/32, the city museum opened in 1939. In 1975/76 a replica of a historic mill from Bözen was built southeast of the Schlössli . The facades were renovated in 1978/80, the roof renovated in 2000, and the window frames restored in 2003.

In 2006/07 the city had a study carried out for an extension of the city museum. The winning project by Diener & Diener with Martin Steinmann was realized between 2012 and 2015. It placed the extension directly on the west side, opened up the old building with a new staircase and lift on five floors and opened the museum to the Schlossplatz. At the same time, the “Schlössli” was gently renovated and received a new permanent exhibition with a scenography by EMYL Basel.

The city museum

The Schlössli and the extension from 2015 together form the Aarau City Museum. With the reopening in 2015 under the direction of Kaba Rössler, the curators Marc Griesshammer and Dominique Frey as well as the entire museum team, a repositioning was initiated. The permanent exhibition “100x Aarau” tells 100 stories with over 1100 objects from Aarau. At the end of the tour, a permanent camera obscura installation by Jacqueline Weiss and Kathrin Siebenhaar turns the city upside down on the top floor of the tower. The leading media of the 20th century, photography and film, are the focus of exhibitions, events and collaborations.

literature

Michael Stettler: The art monuments of the canton of Aargau. Volume I (districts of Aarau, Kulm, Zofingen) . Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History . Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1948, p. 30-34 .
Local citizen community Aarau (Ed.): Aarauer Neujahrsblätter 2016, 2nd episode, 90th year . Here and now, Baden 2015, p. 7-48 .

Web links

Commons : Schlössli Aarau - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

^ Franz Xaver Bronner : The canton of Aargau. Volume 2, St. Gallen / Bern 1844, p. 13.

[1] Franz Xaver Bronner : The canton of Aargau. Volume 2, St. Gallen / Bern 1844, p. 13.