Bächingen Castle

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North side of the castle
The castle in winter

Bächingen Castle is an imposing but largely unadorned building with four round towers in the Renaissance style with late Gothic elements. It is located in the municipality of Bächingen an der Brenz (on the eastern edge of the Swabian Alb ) in the district of Dillingen in Swabia .

history

In the 16th century, the Bächingen manor came into the hands of the von Westernach knightly family , who had a moated castle built there instead of a previous building directly on the south bank of the Brenz .

The foundation stone was laid on August 28, 1531 by Bernhard von Westernach and his wife Margaretha , née. laid by Knöringen . This information can be found on the building inscription made by Loy Hering above the east portal of the castle.

Under their son Eitelhans, Bächingen, previously Hofmark , broke away from the Duchy of Palatinate-Neuburg and established itself as the rule of the imperial knighthood . Bächingen Castle thus became the official "seat of government".

By marriage in 1594 the rule was passed to the Lords of Stain , who ruled Bächingen until 1790 and introduced the Reformation there. Bächingen is still a Protestant diaspora in a strict Catholic environment today . Finally, Duchess Franziska von Württemberg, better known as Franziska von Hohenheim , bought the three- story gable roof building . The imperial countess held a small court in Bächingen and intensively cultivated her musical ambitions. A large-scale renovation that she had planned in 1792/93 remained largely unexecuted.

After the Duchess's death in 1811, her chamberlain, Karl Axel Ludwig Freiherr von Böhnen, inherited the Bächingen estate and brought the Duchess's library to Bächingen. In addition to several thousand magnificent volumes, it also contained the original of Schiller's first youth publication (On the Duchess's Birthday, 1779), but was sold piece by piece from 1972 onwards. Böhnen sold Schloss and Gut Bächingen in 1821 to the just ennobled Augsburg banker Johann Gottlieb Freiherr von Süßkind , who used it as a summer residence. He had most of the farm buildings that surrounded the castle on all sides demolished and renovated the castle. Until 1988, the noble family also held the patronage of the local parish church, on the area of ​​which they own a small family cemetery. The castle was owned by the von Süßkind family until the fifth generation .

The castle is surrounded by some outbuildings, a natural park with old trees, the Brenz and a castle wall that is (partially) in need of renovation. The castle and park are not open to the public , but there is a public footpath and cycle path through the old castle avenue on the north side of the Brenz (consisting of approximately 250-year-old linden trees ).

Building description

Exterior

The castle has a cuboid floor plan with four round towers attached to the corners. The east and west gables were originally both adorned with battlements , but the battlements on the east gable were demolished during the last renovation in the 1950s. The main portal on the north side is surrounded by two half-columns. An inscription plaque with the alliance coat of arms of the noble Westernach / Knöring families and a coat of arms holder in the costume of the time is walled in above the side entrance on the east side of the castle . The inscription refers to the laying of the foundation stone in 1531 by Bernnart von westernach Margaret von Knöring his Hausfraw sambt ir beder liben sonen and four daughters .

ground floor

The ground floor is spanned by a Gothic barrel vault. The former dungeon is in its original state in the southeast tower . A wide grand staircase made of black wood (mid-18th century) leads to the upper floors.

Upper floors

The upper floors were redesigned in Empire style at the beginning of the 19th century . Particularly noteworthy are the former library room on the 2nd floor built by the bibliophile Countess von Hohenheim around 1800 because of its contemporary empirical wallpapers and paintings, as well as the salon on the 1st floor, with a classicist chandelier and a discreet contemporary furniture consisting of a dining table, half-height display cases and chests of drawers .

literature

Web links

Commons : Schloss Bächingen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.alleen-fan.de/Kampagne/Lieblingsalleen/Allee_134.html
  2. ↑ cit. n. Metzger 2005, p. 65
  3. ↑ Metzger 2005, p. 65

Coordinates: 48 ° 32 '53.6 "  N , 10 ° 18' 53.4"  E