Biebrich Castle

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The southwest corner of the castle
Castle and park

The Biebrich Castle was the baroque residence of the princes and later Dukes of Nassau on the Rhine in Biebrich (incorporated 1926 Wiesbaden ).

The building was not created according to a uniform design, but was expanded again and again between 1700 and 1750 until a garden shed had finally developed into a three-wing complex. As such, it was one of the most important baroque castles on the Rhine. On the side facing away from the Rhine, the spacious palace park spreads out, in which a well-known horse show takes place every year at Whitsun . Among other things, the Hessian State Office for Monument Preservation is housed in the castle . It is also used for the representation of the Hessian state government .

Building history

Biebrich Castle at night
Biebrich Castle around 1832 on an engraving after Tombleson
Biebrich Castle from the Rhine side

Expansion into a pleasure palace under Prince Georg August (1700 to 1721)

Although the Biebrich Castle today has a uniform appearance, the building was not built according to an overall plan. Rather, today's palace complex was created through a complicated building history.

Georg August Samuel von Nassau-Idstein (* 1665) was just twelve years old when his father died. Since he was not yet of legal age, two guardians were initially charged with the government. Georg August used this time to study in Giessen , Strasbourg and Paris . He also got to know different courts, where he was particularly impressed by the Palace of Versailles . In 1684 he was made a count and in 1688 by the emperor due to his participation in the liberation of Vienna after the Turkish siege and after paying a large sum of money to the prince's status.

In 1696, the prince first acquired a plot of land directly on the banks of the Rhine opposite the Biebricher Aue and had a simple garden house built, which could only be used during the day. From 1701 to 1703 he had Julius Ludwig Rothweil convert it into a residential palace. Between 1704 and 1706 an identical pavilion was built for the princess about 86 meters further east. Since the prince now liked the location so much, in 1707 he commissioned the master builder Maximilian von Welsch to develop an overall baroque concept. The model should be the orangery in the Kassel Karlsaue with the aim of connecting the two pavilions with galleries and a central building.

Welsch realized this plan by placing a rotunda in the middle , which was connected to the two pavilions by galleries. The rotunda received a grotto hall at ground level, a so-called sala terrena with water features. This grotto hall was connected to the ballroom on the first floor through an opening in the ceiling. The ballroom was vaulted by a dome painted with a fresco , which, following the example of the Roman pantheon , also had an opening. The fresco represented ancient figures of gods, so one could, so to speak, look up into the sky from the underworld. However, this concept was abandoned during the prince's lifetime; the two openings in the ceiling were closed. The two galleries were also decorated with ceiling paintings and fine stucco work . The rotunda was 16, now lost, Hermen the Mainz sculptor Franz Matthias Hiernle decorated. Welsch's work, which also included the creation of a baroque garden with an orangery at the end, lasted until 1721, and most recently (1719–1721) the two galleries were raised by one floor. This was probably not only done to get more space, but was more of an embarrassment solution to fix the leaky flat roof.

Expansion to a residential palace under Prince Karl (1721 to 1744)

Made Biebrich Castle his residence: Prince Karl von Nassau-Usingen

Prince Georg August died in 1721, but his “Versailles on the Rhine” was not yet completed. With him the Nassau-Idstein line died out, which is why the principality passed to Prince Karl von Nassau-Usingen (born December 31, 1712, † June 21, 1775). Since Karl was not yet of legal age, his mother, Princess Charlotte Amalie von Nassau-Dillenburg , took over the government. After taking office in 1730, Karl wanted to move his residence from the rear Taunus in Usingen to the Rhine. He therefore commissioned Friedrich Joachim Stengel to complete the palace as a three-wing complex. From 1734 the east wing was built for the stables on the ground floor and the princely administration on the upper floor. From 1737 the work on the rotunda and the galleries, which had been interrupted in 1721, continued. In 1740, Stengel finally began with the west wing, which was largely finished in 1744 with its precious interior. Remaining work dragged on until 1750. In 1744 Prince Karl moved the residence from Usingen to Biebrich.

Nassau main and summer residence (1744 to 1866)

View of Biebrich Castle from the east on a painting by the young Ludwig Knaus from 1846

From 1749 to 1752 the Neue Mosbacher Straße (today Biebricher Allee ) was built, which enabled a direct connection between the castles. Until the completion of the city ​​palace in Wiesbaden in 1841, Biebrich Palace was the main residence of the Nassau princes and dukes. After that it served only as a summer residence until 1866.

Luxembourg private property and administrative building (since 1866)

After the Duchy of Nassau was defeated on Austria's side in the German War , it was annexed by Prussia . However, the Prussian King Wilhelm I left the Biebrich Palace in the private ownership of Duke Adolf, in contrast to the Wiesbaden City Palace , which was the residence of the Prussian kings and later German emperors when they visited Wiesbaden. Although Adolf was able to dispose of the castle, he preferred to live first in Frankfurt am Main and Vienna , and later in Hohenburg Castle near Lenggries . In 1868 he sold the greenhouses built between 1844 and 1848 with the valuable trees and plants together with a small amount of plants from the city palace to the city of Frankfurt am Main. They formed the basis of the palm garden . When Adolf became the closest relative of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg after the local monarchy died out in 1890 , the Luxembourg Chamber of Finance administered the castle.

Only in 1935 sold the then Luxembourg Grand Duchess Charlotte , a granddaughter of Adolphus Schloss Biebrich to the Prussian state. The building was badly damaged in the Second World War , in particular the east wing was destroyed except for the outer walls. This was subsequently canceled. After the war, the remains of the once magnificent castle were severely neglected. Only the establishment of film institutes, including the voluntary self-regulation of the film industry, prevented complete decline. Complaints from shocked visitors from the Netherlands and Luxembourg, where the House of Nassau still provides the heads of state, finally prompted the Hessian state government to restore the building that it now owns. From 1961 to 1965 the facades were renovated and the west wing renewed, so that in 1967 the Hessian state curator and the state archaeologists of Hesse could move into it. In the years 1980 to 1982, the state government under Prime Minister Holger Börner had the east wing reconstructed true to the original and all the remaining interiors in the rest of the castle were carefully restored so that the castle had its original appearance again.

The state government uses it for representation purposes and it is, among other things, the seat of the Hessian State Office for Monument Preservation .

architecture

The west wing of the castle

The palace is now a three-wing complex, consisting of the west and east wings, which are connected to the outer pavilions and the rotunda in between, which is connected to the two outer pavilions by two galleries. The ensemble received its original red and white paint back first in 1965, then finally in 1982, which contributes to the uniform overall impression. On closer inspection, however, one can see the architectural differences that have resulted from the long construction period.

Rotunda and galleries

The center of the palace, the ballroom, is located in the rotunda. This has a circular dome with a skylight modeled on the Pantheon in Rome. In the cylinder of the outer walls Maximilian von Welsch put a round temple ( Monopteros ) with eight free-standing columns made of dark Nassau marble from the quarries near Villmar and Steeden and a gallery. The dome is painted with ancient figures of gods and shows the admission of Aeneas into Olympus , which probably alludes to the elevation of Prince Georg August Samuel to the prince status in 1688. The outer walls and the entablature are decorated with stucco marble. From 1828 to 1829, at the instigation of the Duchess Pauline, the originally baroque appearance was changed to a classical style. She had the gallery changed, the putti on the beams and the figures of gods in the wall niches removed, the ceiling fresco painted over and the marble floor replaced with parquet. The ceiling painting, created by the Italian painter Luca Antonio Colomba from 1719 to 1721 , was exposed again in 1980.

On the outside of the rotunda are 16 statues of ancient gods, each arranged in pairs: Minerva and Mars , Venus and Mercury , Jupiter and Juno as well as Apollo and Diana . Then this sequence is repeated. The double arrangement of the figures may be explained by the fact that during the renovation in 1896 to 1898 the other figures were so weathered that they could no longer be used. The clay figures were made by the Wiesbaden company Höppli based on designs by the sculptor Hermann Schies.

Castle Park

The castle park is located between the center of Biebrich (right) and the "Parkfeld" settlement (left)
Biebrich Castle seen from the park side

Originally a French garden belonged to Biebrich Castle , for which the area behind the buildings was filled. The resulting plateau can be reached from the west via a wide staircase. The terrain slopes down to the north. Maximilian von Welsch laid out this first French garden around 1720. It had a regular pattern of paths, which was bordered by balustrades and the orangery. From 1817 to 1823 Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell converted the garden into an English landscape park and expanded it to the north. The former orangery was demolished. You can still see elements of the original complex, such as the two fountains directly behind the castle and two straight avenues. The foundation walls of a medieval castle, on which the master builder Carl Florian Goetz built a romantic artificial ruin, the Mosburg , in the middle of a pond, were located on the expanded area . The original lake in the southwestern part of the park was later filled in and is now used as an area for the annual Whitsun horse show. Several species of parrots have settled in the castle park, of which the ring-necked parakeets in particular have reproduced so much that they can be considered native . The park is traversed by the Mosbach, which flows into the Upper Rhine west of the castle .

Court life and special events

Nassau regents in Biebrich Castle
regent Period Type of use
Prince Georg August Samuel of Nassau-Idstein 1700 to 1721 Pleasure palace
Prince Karl of Nassau-Usingen 1730 to 1775 Main residence (since 1744)
Prince Karl Wilhelm of Nassau-Usingen 1775 to 1803 Main residence
Prince Friedrich August von Nassau-Usingen 1803 to 1816 Main residence
Duke Wilhelm I of Nassau 1816 to 1839 Main residence
Duke Adolf of Nassau 1839 to 1905 Main residence (until 1841) Summer residence (1841 to 1866),
then private property

(Addition follows)

Todays use

The castle is owned by the State of Hesse and is managed by the State Office for Construction and Real Estate Hesse . The rotunda, the galleries and the ground floors of the pavilions serve as a representative backdrop for receptions by the state government and other authorities (e.g. for public events by the Bundeswehr ) and as a municipal registry office. In addition, several authorities are housed in the castle. This includes the main office of the State Office for Monument Preservation Hesse in the west wing. Since the reconstruction in 1982, the state film evaluation center Wiesbaden has been located in the east wing , an institution of the federal states, whose projection room is used as a venue for films in the castle . The Board of Trustees for Young German Films and the archaeological department of the State Office for Monument Preservation are also located there. The lower floor of the rotunda is used by a café.

The castle park is freely accessible. It connects the castle on the Rhine with the artificial ruins of Mosburg . The Wiesbaden Whitsun Tournament , an international horse show, has been held annually at Whitsun since 1949 in the southwest of the palace park .

In October 2011 the 1st International Wheelchair Dance Tournament in Wiesbaden (Schloss Biebrich Trophy) took place in the castle , organized by the Tanz-Club Blau-Orange e. V. Wiesbaden and the wheelchair dancing department in the German Wheelchair Sports Association (DRS).

The songwriters have been casting for the show Dein Song on KIKA there since 2011 .

On June 12, 2013, the solemn dissolution of the US Armed Forces V Corps took place in the castle .

Involved architects and artists

Architects and artists involved in Biebrich Castle
Surname property Period plant
Julius Ludwig Rothweil builder 1700/1701 western pavilion (draft)
Johann Jacob Bager builder 1701 to 1702 western pavilion (site management)
Paul you Ry builder around 1706 eastern pavilion (authorship presumed)
Maximilian von Welsch builder 1707 to 1721 Rotunda, galleries, baroque garden with orangery
Luca Antonio Colomba painter 1719 to 1721 u. a. Ceiling painting rotunda
Carlo Maria Pozzi Plasterer 1719 to 1721 u. a. Ceilings in rotunda and galleries
Friedrich Joachim Stengel builder 1730 to 1744 West and east wings
Johann Peter Jäger Plasterer 1730 to 1744 Equipment of the west wing (e.g. stairwell)
Carl Florian Goetz Court building director 1805 to 1816 Mosburg
Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell Architect, master horticulturist 1817 to 1823 Landscape park
Friedrich Ludwig Schrumpf builder 1824 two-flight flight of stairs at the rotunda
Carl Boos builder 1836 (New) orangery in the castle park

literature

  • Hans-Christoph Dittscheid, Reinhard Schneider: A pantheon on the Rhine. On the work of Maximilian von Welsch, Luca Antonio Colomba and Friedrich Joachim Stengel at the Biebrich Castle . In: Joachim Glatz, Norbert Suhr (ed.): Art and culture on the Middle Rhine. Festschrift for Fritz Arens on his 70th birthday . Werner'sche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1982, ISBN 3-88462-016-9 , pp. 85-121.
  • Rolf Faber (Ed.): Biebrich am Rhein. 874-1974. Timeline. Published on behalf of the Working Group 1100 Years of Biebrich. HG Seyfried, Wiesbaden 1974.
  • Sonja Geurts: Biebrich Castle and Castle Park. Landscape park designed by Friedrich Ludwig von Sckell with a castle and Mosburg. Fast u. Steiner, Regensburg 2000, ISBN 3-7954-1311-7 ( Edition of the Administration of State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse brochures 8).
  • Manfred Handke, Bernd Modrow, Martina Nath-Esser: Park maintenance for the Biebrich Castle Park in Wiesbaden. Principles for the care, restoration and long-term preservation of the historical park as a cultural monument. Administration of the State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse, Bad Homburg vd Höhe 1987 ( Edition of the Administration of the State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse Monographs 1, ZDB -ID 1309199-2 ).
  • Bernd Modrow, Claudia Gröschel: Princely pleasure. 400 years of garden culture in Hessen. Schnell + Steiner publishing house, Regensburg 2002, ISBN 3-7954-1487-3 ( Edition of the Administration of the State Palaces and Gardens of Hesse ).
  • Eckhard Olschewski: The castles in Saarbrücken and Biebrich. Two residences of the Count House Nassau-Saarbrücken. A contribution to the palace architecture of inferior imperial princes in the 18th century. Publishing house and database for the humanities, Weimar 2001, ISBN 3-89739-186-4 .

Documents

Individual evidence

  1. Baedeker Wiesbaden Rheingau, Ostfildern-Kemnat 2001, ISBN 3-87954-076-4
  2. Gottfried Kiesow : The misunderstood century - The historicism at the example of Wiesbaden, ISBN 3-936942-53-6 , p. 16 f.
  3. Hans-Christoph Dittscheid, Reinhard Schneider: A pantheon on the Rhine. On the work of Maximilian von Welsch, Luca Antonio Colomba and Friedrich Joachim Stengel at the Biebrich Castle . In: Joachim Glatz, Norbert Suhr (ed.): Art and culture on the Middle Rhine . Werner'sche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 1982, pp. 85-121.
  4. ^ Renkhoff, Otto : Nassauische Biographie . Historical Commission for Nassau , Wiesbaden 1992, ISBN 3-922244-90-4 , p. 323 .
  5. www.nassau-info.de
  6. Gottfried Kiesow : Architectural Guide Wiesbaden - The City of Historicism, ISBN 978-3-936942-71-2 , p. 298 ff.
  7. Kiesow: Architekturführer, p. 303
  8. ^ Andreas Schmidt-von Rhein: Adolfshöhe and Biebricher Allee: connecting link between Wiesbaden and Biebrich
  9. a b Baedeker, p. 90
  10. Kiesow: Architekturführer, p. 304 f.
  11. Kiesow, Architekturführer, p. 304 f.
  12. Kiesow, Architekturführer, p. 305 ff.
  13. ^ Georg Dehio , Handbook of German Art Monuments - Hesse 2: The Darmstadt District , p. 83, Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-422-03117-3
  14. Kiesow: Architekturführer, p. 308 ff.
  15. ^ Schloss Biebrich Trophy in Wheelchair Dancing , accessed on December 5, 2011.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Biebrich  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 2 ′ 15 ″  N , 8 ° 14 ′ 3 ″  E