Bad König Castle

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Schlossplatz, Old Castle and Rentmeisterei
Old and New Castle, around 1900

The Castle Bad König is a of related complex consisting of the Old Castle , the New Castle , the Rentmeisterei , today's Evangelical Church with medieval military cemetery and the Lustgarten is. It is located in the center of Bad König in the Odenwaldkreis in Hesse .

history

The fortified cemetery was first mentioned as a castle in 820, and in 1348 it was partially owned by the Counts of Erbach . The fortified cemetery went to Konrad Schenk von Erbach as a Kurmainzer fief in 1477 and Archbishop Dieter von Isenburg reserved the right to open it . This shows that the castle and city king must have been in a well-fortified state at that time. A church tower on the manorial complex was built in 1478.

In 1556, Count Georg II. Von Erbach began building a palace and the gaden used by the population were removed. Whether the Old Castle an older castle preceded it, is speculative. In 1747 the office of König came to the Erbach line from Erbach-Schönberg, and the late medieval bell tower of today's parish church has been used as a church tower since 1750.

In 1782 the "New Castle" was built next to the older facility. Only the four-story tower of the Protestant parish church remains from the former fortified cemetery .

On October 12, 1900, the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina became engaged to Duke Heinrich zu Mecklenburg in Bad König Castle . Until 1926 the castle was the home of the counts (later princes ) of Erbach-Schönberg.

investment

Gravestone of Lucius Sextius Valens , walled up in the church tower. Original on the left, copy on the right.

The current state shows a modern ensemble of parish church, fortified cemetery, old and new castle. The churchyard was converted into a pleasure garden in 1794. At its entrance there is a two-flight flight of stairs with a cast-iron railing and a niche. South of the complex is the Rentmeisterei, the former town hall from 1804. A plaque on the building refers to the poet and writer Karl Julius Weber , who wrote his work Demokritos here .

A Roman tombstone is walled into the tower of the parish church at a height of 12 m (copy; original in the gate passage of the Rentmeisterei). Its origin is unclear. It is the upper part of a grave monument from the late 2nd or 3rd century AD in the form of a gable (width 0.86 m, height 0.92 m) with the inscription D (is) M (anibus) (“the gods of the dead “) And the naming of L (ucius) Sextius Valens.

Old castle

The core of the old castle dates back to the 15th or 16th century and was probably built around 1556. It is not certain whether the complex was preceded by an older castle building. It was renewed around 1625, in the 18th century the half-timbered upper floor with the striking hipped roof was renewed. The plastering and painting date from the 20th century. Inside there is a stuccoed garden hall from 1792/93, it is used today as the seat of the city administration.

Front view of the New Castle
Rear view of the New Castle
New Castle staircase

New lock

The New Palace (also known as " Graf-Christians-Bau ") was built in 1792/93 according to plans by Franz Ludwig von Cancrin to the west of the Old Palace. It is a two-storey late baroque building with a mansard roof and a central dwarf house. Inside there is a remarkable baroque wooden staircase by the carpenter Schillinger and in the large hall on the bel étage there is a classical stucco ceiling by Andreas Ditmar from Gernsheim. The building was renovated in 2017/2018 by the current owner of the building, the entrepreneur Ulrich von Christen from Michelstadt. On the three usable floors, an upscale office use is planned on approx. 700 m².

Protestant church

literature

Web links

Commons : Schloss Bad König  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Coat of arms of Count Erbach Schönberg at the New Palace

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wilhelmina: Lonely and yet not alone . Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1961, pp. 93–94.
  2. ^ Egon Schallmayer in: Dietwulf Baatz and Fritz-Rudolf Herrmann (eds.): The Romans in Hessen. Licensed edition of the 3rd edition from 1989. Nikol, Hamburg 2002 p. 236. ISBN 3-933203-58-9 ; Inscription: CIL 13, 06521 ; Monument: Marion Mattern: Roman stone monuments from Hesse south of the Main and from the Bavarian part of the Main Limes. Corpus Signorum Imperii Romani . Germany vol. 2,13, Mainz 2005, publisher of the Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum; Commissioned by Habelt, Bonn, ISBN 3-88467-091-3 , p. 146 and plate 89.

Coordinates: 49 ° 44 ′ 28.7 "  N , 9 ° 0 ′ 27.7"  E