Craheim Castle

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Craheim Castle

Craheim Castle is one of the youngest castles in Bavaria and is located near Wetzhausen , a district of the market town of Stadtlauringen in the Lower Franconian district of Schweinfurt .

Building history

The reason for the castle construction

The palace was built from 1908 to 1910. The reason for the construction was the marriage of the Royal Prussian Rittmeister Crafft Freiherr Truchsess von und zu Wetzhausen with Clara Erhart , a daughter of the German-American Charles F. Erhart (December 27, 1857 Brooklyn - February 14, 1926 Wetzhausen) (he founded the pharmaceutical company Pfizer in Williamsburg , Brooklyn in 1849 with his cousin Karl Pfizer ). For the rich American, the old castle in the village of Wetzhausen was too cold and outdated. Since she brought the necessary money into the marriage, the couple decided to build a new building about a kilometer outside the village. Originally an exact replica of Solitude Palace was planned, but this project was rejected by King Wilhelm II of Württemberg at the time . The new building is therefore only formally based on Solitude in its southern main facade, but has been expanded to form a four-wing complex.

The construction at a time overview

  • April 22, 1908: Order for an expert opinion to the architects Schultheiß and Hans Jakober in Nuremberg
  • April 23, 1908: First inspection of the construction site (the Pappelberg northeast of Wetzhausen)
  • April 25, 1908: Meeting with the client in Munich
  • April 1908: First drafts for floor plans and facades by the architects Hans Jakober and Mathys
  • May 1908: Completion of the designs
  • May 16, 1908: Contract to the architects to build the entire palace and gardens
  • June 15, 1908: start of construction preparations (deep drilling for the water supply in the valley about 300 meters from the castle, access road, leveling of the construction site, removal of the hilltop by about four meters)
  • June 30, 1908: The foundations are laid
  • July 1, 1908: Approval of the plans by the royal district office of Hofheim in Lower Franconia
  • August 20, 1908: laying of the foundation stone
  • September 30, 1908: The shell of the main building and the outbuildings were completed
  • October 4, 1908: Topping- out ceremony ("Hebfeier")
  • by June 1910: interior work in accordance with the client's instructions
  • October 29, 1910: Handover of the keys after completion of the building and the park that has been preserved

Since the construction police did not want to remove the building without a second staircase, a staircase was added to the south wing in the south-east corner of the courtyard. The Bavarian building code around 1900 was particularly strict about fire protection .

The total cost was 1,534,813 marks (approx. 7,500,000 euros). The name Craheim was based on the first names of the builders Crafft and Clara.

The castle has been a listed building for several years .

While the castle was being used as a school, an apartment building for teachers and two workshops for the vocational training of students were built on the site. One of the workshops was rebuilt and is now used as a guest house, the other was demolished around 1999.

In recent years, due to the current use, other buildings have been built on the site around the castle, but they do not affect the original structure:

  • In 1998 the house of the community of Jesus 'Way , a nurses' and retreat house , was completed.
  • In 2000 three single-family houses were built for employees of the conference center.

The Zurich architect Hans-Dieter Nieländer designed both construction projects .

Architectural style

From the outside, the palace (facade and park) is based on the Baroque and Rococo styles , but also shows classicist elements. Inside, with the exception of the furniture, all rooms have largely been preserved in their original form. However, never all rooms were specially developed.

Examples of the design of some halls

Hall of Mirrors
  • Dome hall English style entrance hall with stairs and fireplace
  • Golden Salon: Baroque, Rococo and some with motifs from the 20th century
  • Library ( renaissance )
  • Hall of Mirrors (Baroque)
  • Dining room ( Empire style)

In addition, style elements from the construction period, such as Art Nouveau , are incorporated.

Usage history

Domed hall
Dining room
  • 1910–1943: The builder's family lived in the castle.
  • 1943: The high command of the German Wehrmacht confiscated the building.
  • 1944–1945: The castle served the Wehrmacht as a hospital .
  • April 1945: The Americans confiscated the castle and initially used it as a hospital for prisoners of war .
  • June to October 1945: The palace is used by the Americans as headquarters .
  • In 1946, the Inner Mission of the Evangelical Church in Bavaria took over the castle.
  • 1947–1948: Used by the Inner Mission as a home for the war blind
  • 1948–1950: Use by the Inner Mission for returnees from Russia
  • 1950–1967 the castle housed a rural education home, a school with boarding school. In addition to secondary school and grammar school, training in various trades (including carpenter and locksmith) was offered.
  • Since August 20, 1968: Use as a meeting place by the life center for Christian unity
  • In 2003, some scenes for the film Sams in Danger (director: Ben Verbong ) were shot in Wetzhausen and Craheim Castle.

Center of life for Christian unity

In 1968, the life center for Christian unity Schloss Craheim was founded by Christians of various denominations and spiritual backgrounds. The initiators included u. a. the Catholic Father Eugen Mederlet , the Lutheran Pastor Arnold Bittlinger and the Baptist pastor Wilhard Becker . The foundation goes back to strong shared experiences at encounters, especially at the Ecumenical Church Days in Königstein / Taunus in the years after 1965.

The life center comprises two independent works:

  • The meeting place at Craheim Castle, a Christian meeting place with a focus on pastoral care and marriage work. The Franziskushof, which was originally run by the Catholic community building a church (AEK), has been operated by the meeting place since 2007.
  • The nurses and retreat house with a focus on meditation, contemplation and retreat was built in 1998 by the community of Jesus Way.

Web links

Commons : Craheim Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ^ Association of the Nobility in Bavaria e. V. (Hrsg.): Genealogical manual of the aristocracy enrolled in Bavaria, Volume XV, Neustadt an der Aisch 1984, p. 452.
  2. ↑ Annegret Bossemeyer: Reconciled diversity. Life center for Christian unity in Craheim . In: Anna-Maria from the Wiesche, Frank Lilie (ed.): Kloster auf Evangelisch. Reports from life together . Vier-Türme-Verlag, Münsterschwarzach 2016, ISBN 978-3-89680-904-9 , pp. 55–59.

Coordinates: 50 ° 12 ′ 1.3 ″  N , 10 ° 24 ′ 47.3 ″  E