Albeck Castle (Langenau)

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Albeck around 1650

Albeck Castle is located in the historic center of Albeck , a district of Langenau in the Alb-Danube district of Baden-Württemberg . It stands in a dominant position on the southern edge of the Flöztal north of Ulm .

history

South tower and former servants' house

Probably from 1081 to 1100 was of I of Swabia Duke Frederick the castle Albeck to secure the border area to Ulm, which at that time owned by the Guelph built was. Invested relatives Berangar and Adalbert were Stubersheim . It is mentioned in a document that Berangar called himself "von Albeck" from 1107/1108. In 1245 the castle and the lordship were inherited by the Margrave Heinrich von Burgau and in 1289 by the Count Rudolf von Werdenberg-Sargans . Extensive expansion measures were carried out around 1300. In addition, the hamlet was walled. During the city ​​war , Ulm captured the castle in 1387. Count Konrad von Werdenberg sold it to Ulm in 1383 for 6,830  gold guilders .

During the princes' uprising in 1552, the Margrave of Brandenburg imposed 10,000 guilders "arson" on Albeck because the castle did not surrender. In the Thirty Years' War , imperial troops took the castle undestroyed on July 17, 1635 after a siege , unlike the village of Albeck. In the 17th century, extensive new construction and repair work was carried out. The castle and the village were destroyed - after two unsuccessful attempts in July 1704 - by Bavarian and French troops during the War of the Spanish Succession . As early as 1712, the partial reconstruction as a castle took place under the responsibility of the builder Heinrich Hacker, in order to serve as the official residence from then on. In the years 1787/1877 the castle bridge was rebuilt and the cattle house demolished. From 1802 to 1810 the castle was the seat of a Bavarian regional court and rent office . The bailiff's house with prison cells in the south corner tower was built in 1805. After transition at Württemberg the castle was a 1810-1819 seat upper office man. After 1819 it was sold to the Württemberg Forestry Office and in 1841 privately owned. Around 1900 it was converted into a country residence and the southern corner tower was raised and plastered . The southern part of the castle was bought by Württemberg in 1934 and finally sold back to private customers in 1956. Extensive renovation measures are carried out from 1966 to 1969 . Today the castle serves as a residential building, and parts of the premises are rented out.

Plant description

The original Stauffer period castle consisted in 1200 of a castle keep , a curtain wall and a palace . The original Burgplatz had an area of ​​37 to 44 meters by 55 to 65 meters and was characterized by the construction with humpback blocks. As early as 1300, the complex was extensively expanded by equipping the surrounding wall with round towers and creating a forecourt with a kennel to the south and south-east . According to a view by Matthäus Merian , you can see the castle complex and the walled town well. When it was rebuilt as a palace complex in 1712, only the surrounding walls of the core castle , the southern and western corner towers and parts of the moat remained from the original structure . The buildings along the surrounding walls and the farm buildings were rebuilt. In a drawing from 1727 the system can be seen as described. Today, the castle moat, broken out of the rock, southeast of the complex can be recognized as a medieval element. The width varies from around 10 to 20 meters, to the northwest the trench was filled. The tower of rubble on the southern edge comes from the time in 1300, but was increased in 1900, with a battlement of bricks provided and plastered. The top floor in front of the elevation was used as a heated guardroom, as indicated by the chimney shaft on the outer wall. With a diameter of 7.5 meters, the tower has a wall thickness of two meters. The west tower has been preserved as a four meter high stump of ruins. Today there is a modern pavilion on it . Between the south and west towers there is a medieval shield wall that is up to seven meters high and has been partially rebuilt. Partly there is a hump square facing. The medieval outer wall, which is now plastered, is still partially present on the northwest side. No remains of the other medieval components are otherwise visible. The mansard-roofed former bailiff's building from 1805 was added to the south tower . Further additions were made around 1900. Instead of a horse stable and a barn , a new building was built on the shield wall, while the half-timbered building is the former Pfistererei . No remains are visible of the hall, which was used as an official building during the reconstruction, the gate, the north-eastern towers and a shed. A garage and a modern barn were built in their place.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Reistle: Albeck. History of the town and the castle. , Page 14.

literature

Coordinates: 48 ° 28 ′ 56.6 ″  N , 10 ° 3 ′ 16 ″  E