Agnestal Castle

Agnestal Castle before renovation work began, 2008

Agnestal Castle after the renovation work, 2012

The Agnestal Castle , also lock Seehälde or Venningsches Castle called, is a baroque palace in the town of Zuzenhausen in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis . The castle is the seat of the training center and the office of the Bundesliga club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim .

location

The castle is located on the western outskirts of Zuzenhausen.

history

The castle in Zuzenhausen goes back to one of originally several mansions on site. The ruins of Zuzenhausen Castle, the oldest manor in the area, are located southeast of the village . In the center of the village was Zuzenhausen Castle , which the Lords of Venningen had as a fief with the castle and town , but which had fallen into disrepair in the early 18th century. In the place of Agnestal Castle there was originally a "poor farm" as part of the Hundheim fief. In 1716, the Hundheim property passed to the Hessian general and Heidelberg city commander, Johann Hermann von Freudenberg , who began with the construction of a representative courtyard. After Freudenberg's death in 1738, the fief was returned to the Hundsheim for around 30 years. From 1769 it was owned by Carl Philipp von Venningen and his wife Anna Maria von Hutten, who completed the castle by 1780. The name Agnestal comes from the Agnes chapel, which went under in the 19th century and is also attributed to the Venningen and Hutts. The name Seehaele probably developed from the fish ponds that were once nearby.

The Lords of Venningen lived in the castle only temporarily and mostly let the administrators run it as an agricultural estate, which meant that the gardens and parks were lost. In 1968 agriculture was given up in the facility. After that there was a restaurant on the upper floor for a short time before it was parceled into apartments and rented out for residential purposes, while a discotheque opened in the basement. In 1986 the municipality of Zuzenhausen acquired the property and had the roof renewed in 1994. A comprehensive renovation was not possible for the community for reasons of cost.

In 2007 a buyer was found who promised a comprehensive renovation of the building for subsequent use as an event and conference venue.

Use since 2008

New building (left) and castle (right)

Since April 2008, extensive renovation and expansion work has taken place to convert the castle into the training and business center of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim , a Bundesliga football club located in the neighboring town of Hoffenheim . The renovation, which cost between 12 and 15 million euros, was financed by the SAP founder and patron of TSG Hoffenheim, Dietmar Hopp . The main use of the facility takes place in a new building directly adjacent to the old substance and in a converted historical farm building, so that the actual castle building today serves particularly representative purposes.

investment

The castle is a three - storey, single - winged building that is covered by a massive hipped roof. Two towers with the same eaves height but their own roofs are attached to the side of the castle building . The facade is structured by cornices and pilaster strips made of sandstone . In the middle of the building a biaxial central projection emerges only slightly. The portal made of sandstone and the heraldic cartouche above it with the alliance coat of arms of the Venningen and Hutten mark the central axis of the building. The castle and the farm buildings standing at right angles to it on both sides form a courtyard with a fountain in the middle.

literature

Hartmut Riehl: Castles and palaces in the Kraichgau. Regional culture publishing house, Ubstadt-Weiher 1997, ISBN 3-929366-51-7
Claudia Baer-Schneider: Hofgut - discotheque - event and conference center. The fate of "Seehilder Castle" in Zuzenhausen. In: Preservation of Monuments in Baden-Württemberg , Volume 39, 2010, Issue 2, pp. 113–118 ( PDF )