Babenhausen Castle (Hesse)

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Babenhausen Castle
Babenhausen Castle (2009)

Babenhausen Castle (2009)

Data
place Babenhausen
Construction year around 1200
Coordinates 49 ° 57 '34 "  N , 8 ° 57' 9"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 57 '34 "  N , 8 ° 57' 9"  E

The Babenhausen castle in Babenhausen in southern Hesse Darmstadt-Dieburg is from a medieval moated castle emerged and served successively as residence and administrative center of the Lords of Hagen-Münzenberg , the Lords of Hanau , the Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg and the House of Hesse .

function

Founded around 1200 by the Lords of Hagen-Münzenberg, the complex served as an administrative and military center for the villages around the emerging town of Babenhausen. In a document dated June 9, 1236, the Babenhusen Castle with accessories as part of the wedding date of Kuno III. von Munzenberg promised his future wife Adelheid von Tübingen. With the Munzenberg inheritance , it fell to the House of Hanau together with the Babenhausen office . In this, meanwhile raised to the rank of count , a division of the country was made in 1458 and the Babenhausen Castle was assigned to the younger line as a residence. Through a successful marriage policy, she acquired larger areas in the Upper Rhine region and Alsace and was subsequently called "Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg ". The Counts Philip I, the Elder , Philip II and Philip III. still resided in Babenhausen. From Philip IV onwards , they finally shifted their focus to the Upper Rhine and Alsace. Philip III was the last of the counts who was buried in the town church in Babenhausen , and his son Philip IV was the last of the Hanau counts who were born in Babenhausen.

In the years that followed, Babenhausen Castle served as a widow's seat and residence for non-ruling family members. So spent z. B. Countess Anna von Isenburg , widow of Count Philip II, here her widowhood. Johanna von Hanau-Lichtenberg (* 1543; † 1599), who had separated from her husband, Count Wolfgang von Isenburg-Büdingen-Ronneburg , also lived here after the separation. Margarethe (* 1486; † 1560), a daughter of Count Philip II, formerly a nun in the Marienborn monastery , was interned here until the end of her life because of a "misstep". Christophora (* 1509; † 1582), last abbess of the Marienborn Monastery, Amalie (* 1512; 1578) and Felicitas (* 1516; † 1551), all daughters of Philip III, and her aunt Anna (* 1485; † 1559), a daughter of Philip II, all of whom were nuns in the Marienborn monastery, the castle was assigned as a retirement home after the monastery was dissolved as a result of the Reformation .

From 1593–1596 the palace served as the residence of Hereditary Count Johann Reinhard I.

During the Thirty Years' War , Count Johann Reinhard I , who ruled from 1599 to 1625, tried to protect his country through strict neutrality . But that was of no use to the Babenhausen office . Occupied several times by different warring factions, its villages were devastated in the first years of the war, the residents fled, 2,500 to the city of Babenhausen alone, where the plague broke out. The town and castle of Babenhausen proved to be so strong that they withstood several sieges during this time . In 1631, however, the city and palace were occupied and looted by imperial troops. A year later, Swedes invaded. In 1635 the city was besieged again by the imperial ones, but unsuccessfully. From 1636 to 1647 Babenhausen was occupied by Kurmainz on the pretext that Count Philipp Wolfgang , who ruled from 1625 to 1641, had committed Felonie to the Emperor with his commitment to the French Protestant war party , since Babenhausen was a Bohemian fiefdom . From 1647 the castle served again as a residence, this time for a younger brother of the ruling count, Johann Philipp .

When the Hanau family died out in 1736, the castle first fell to the Landgraviate of Hessen-Kassel , which used it as a secondary residence. Rosa Dorothea Ritter (* 1759; † 1833) was interned here in 1788 , the "passed" second of the three maitresses of the Landgrave and later Elector Wilhelm IX./I. from Hessen-Kassel . She used her stay here to marry her guardian, the later Grand Ducal Hessian Chamber Councilor Johann Georg Kleinhans (after another source: "Kleinhapp") († February 17, 1835) in 1794.

Due to the territorial changes in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars, Babenhausen Castle came to France in 1807, to the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt in 1810 and finally to the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1813 . There it served as a military penal institution from 1818 and housed a regiment of the Red Dragoons from 1869 to 1891 . In 1892 it was sold to Gustav Hickler, a seed wholesaler from Darmstadt . In 1896 it was bought by a consortium of 10 Babenhausen citizens. In 1901 the Grand Duke bought it back. In 1936 the People's State of Hesse took over the facility, in 1962 the State Association for Inner Mission , and since 1981 it has been in private hands again. Castle owner Eugen Wolpert devoted himself to the task of restoring the once magnificent castle to its former glory with the help of monument protection. After his death it was resold. There are currently plans to convert the castle into a luxury hotel.

location

Babenhausen Castle is in front of the medieval wall ring of the city of Babenhausen to the south.

Building history

Romanesque

Babenhausen Castle was laid out as a castle according to a uniform plan. The regular layout of the Hohenstaufen complex - strikingly different from the Gelnhausen Palatinate , for example - suggests southern Alpine models or the involvement of an Italian construction works. The square complex was formerly a moated castle between the Ohlebach and the Gersprenz . In the middle of the castle courtyard there was also a Staufer, square, free-standing keep , archaeologically proven, with a side length of 10.80 m made of brick masonry. The hall building with an open ground floor hall is unique, while no other stone residential building has been proven at this time. The curtain wall is also unusually weak at 1.20 m. The floor plan is very similar to the earliest construction phase of the castle complex in neighboring Dieburg . From this it was concluded that Babenhausen Castle had a special administrative function in its earliest times.

The masonry is also Romanesque with smooth corner cuboids of the former Hohenstaufen curtain wall and all outer sides of the current building square as well as the west wing, the former hall, with a stair tower as a whole. With all three floors, it belongs to the founding period. This grand piano has been dendrochronologically dated to around 1200. On the ground floor it opens onto the courtyard with a unique late Romanesque hall with six arcades . Three arcade columns and capitals were renewed in 1901 (remains of the original capitals are in the Seligenstadt monastery ). Originally, however, is the northern double arcade exposed in 1961. It has a rich profile with a triple round bar and lying lions at the base of the arch. The superbly crafted capital is closely stylistically related to the capitals of the organ loft of the collegiate church of St. Peter and Alexander in Aschaffenburg , with the Gelnhausen Marienkirche and the imperial palace there. The ground floor has small arched windows.

Gothic

The core of the western half of the north wing dates from the 13th century. The five-sided stair tower was added in the late Gothic period and the bay window in the 16th century.

The east half of the north wing with the gate passage and the north half of the east wing with the round stair tower on the courtyard side date from around 1460 (building inscription), with a late Gothic half-timbered upper floor and changes from the 16th century (bay window on the outside). The building was partially increased in the 18th century.

In the palace chapel there is a late Gothic relief ( mercy seat ), dated 1464. It comes from the Babenhausen hospital, which was built in 1754 and demolished in 1965.

Renaissance

From 1460 to 1470, the core system was surrounded by a rampart and casemates with four round battery towers at the corners for cannons . The towers were originally covered with tent roofs and are now open. Only the north-eastern one has an 18th century mansart roof .

The complex was completed from 1570 to 1578 by the expansion of the south wing and the south half of the east wing, so that a regular four-wing Renaissance palace was created. On the courtyard-side, southern stair tower, there is a slender portal with the Hanau coat of arms on the inside and outside . The large corner gables were later removed again. Each wing now had a spiral staircase tower on the courtyard side. The courtyard-side porch with half-timbered upper storey and roof with a gable also dates from the end of the 16th century.

At the same time (1595) the separately standing gate building was renewed, the year above the pointed arched doors indicates the year of construction 1525. In the 18th century it was converted into a chancellery and given a mansard roof.

Baroque

In the baroque era, the roof area of ​​the building was redesigned and the existing structure - as mentioned above - redesigned in several places.

Historicism and modern times

The Grand Dukes sold the castle at the end of the 19th century to a wealthy citizen, who primarily achieved a historicist interior here, which has largely been lost today .

The castle park has been designated as a natural monument since 1938 .

After state use, the castle was in private hands that changed several times. Due to a lack of structural maintenance and several changes to projects for its use, the castle was in a state in need of restoration. This was tackled in 2008 with a project to convert the complex into a luxury hotel: In 2006, Alfa Consulting acquired the castle for 1.8 million euros from the previous owner's inheritance. Behind the Alfa Consulting is a trio of Ukrainian hotel operator. 35 to 40 hotel rooms and suites are planned for the upper floors. A modern extension for the reception and two external elevators is being built on the east side. Hunting hall, fireplace room and red hall are to be converted into conference rooms. The swimming pool is to be set up under the current car park, the wellness area underground in the area of ​​one of the bastions, as well as a café with an open terrace and a wedding chapel. Rooms for the public are to be created on the ground floor and basement, including a museum on the history of the facility. The 800 year old arcades and the adjoining summer hall with well-preserved late Gothic wall paintings are to be included in this public area. The construction work continues.

Picture gallery

  • Gate Tower (2008)

  • Babenhausen Castle (2009)

  • Arcades (2008)

  • Babenhausen Castle (2014)

  • Babenhausen Castle (2009)

literature

  • Elmar Brohl : Fortresses in Hessen. Published by the German Society for Fortress Research eV, Wesel, Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2013 (=  German Fortresses  2), ISBN 978-3-7954-2534-0 , pp. 37–42.
  • Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments - Hesse II. Administrative region Darmstadt. (Ed .: Folkhard Cremer and Tobias Michael Wolf), 3rd edition. Munich 2008, pp. 23–26.
  • Siegfried RCT Enders: Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany - cultural monuments in Hesse - Darmstadt-Dieburg district . Braunschweig 1988.
  • Eckhart G. Franz : The House of Hesse. Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018919-0 .
  • Walter Hotz : Castles of the Hohenstaufen period in the Odenwald area. In: Winfried Wackerfuß (Ed.): Contributions to the exploration of the Odenwald and its peripheral landscapes II. Festschrift for Hans H. Weber. Breuberg-Bund , Breuberg-Neustadt 1977, pp. 155-168, especially pp. 160-162.
  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hesse: 800 castles, castle ruins and castle sites. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , pp. 533-534.
  • Margit Krenn: A Last Supper in courtly company. Newly discovered mural fragment in Babenhausen Castle . In: Monument Preservation and Cultural History 2/2012, pp. 29–32.
  • Klaus Lötzsch: A hall for the Staufen emperor Friedrich Barbarossa in the Gersprenzaue . In: Klaus Lötzsch and Georg Witteberger: Contributions to the history of the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg = Babenhausen once and now 31 (2004), pp. 97–106.
  • Klaus Lötzsch: The rediscovered summer hall with medieval wall paintings in Babenhausen Castle . In: Klaus Lötzsch and Georg Witteberger: Contributions to the history of the County of Hanau-Lichtenberg = Babenhausen once and now 31 (2004), pp. 37–48.
  • Wilhelm Morhardt: Hanau old - in honor of b'halt - The Counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg in history and stories = Babenhausen then and now 10th Babenhausen 1984.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 22.
  • Ulfried Müller: The Babenhausen Castle and the St. Osdag Church in Mandelsloh . In: Klaus Lötzsch and Georg Wittenberger: Contributions to the history of the county of Hanau-Lichtenberg = Babenhausen once and now 31 (2004), pp. 107–112.
  • Thomas Steinmetz: Castles in the Odenwald. Verlag Ellen Schmid, Brensbach 1998, ISBN 3-931529-02-9 , p. 41f.
  • Christian Ottersbach : The castles of the lords and counts of Hanau (1166–1642). Studies on castle politics and castle architecture of a noble house. Ed .: Magistrate of the Brothers Grimm City Hanau and Hanauer Geschichtsverein 1844 eV , Hanau 2018, ISBN 978-3-935395-29-8 (=  Hanauer Geschichtsblätter Vol. 51 ), pp. 337–381.
  • Georg Wittenberger: Stadtlexikon Babenhausen. 700 years of Babenhausen town charter 1295–1995. City administration Babenhausen, Babenhausen 1995.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Babenhausen  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Eduard Scriba: Regesten of the documents printed up to now on the state and local history of the Grand Duchy of Hesse , Darmstadt 1847, Regesten No. 345, June 9, 1236, p. 33
  2. ↑ Morhardt, p. 34
  3. ↑ Thomas Steinmetz: Castles in the Odenwald. Verlag Ellen Schmid, Brensbach 1998, ISBN 3-931529-02-9 , p. 41f.
  4. ↑ Claudia Horkheimer: A castle becomes a luxury hotel . In: Frankfurter Rundschau from September 9, 2008.