Doorwerth Castle

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Doorwerth Castle
Doorwerth Castle
Doorwerth Castle in 1744 on a drawing by Jan de Beijer

The Doorwerth Castle stands in the meadows of the Rhine in the area of the municipality of Renkum in the Dutch province of Gelderland . It goes back to a medieval moated castle that was built in the 13th century. Today, the houses main castle , the "Dutch yacht Museum" , a castle museum and the "Museum Veluwezoom".

history

A castle at today's location was first mentioned in 1260 when it was besieged and set on fire by the Lord of Vianen . This was probably a sanction by the Count of Geldern for robber barons of the then lord of the castle Berend van Doren Weerd. By the year 1280 Berend van Doren Weerd and his son Hendric replaced the ruined castle by a new building, which by a moat was surrounded. It was a residential tower with a rectangular floor plan measuring around 10 × 15 meters and 1.2 meters thick walls. Today's south wing was added during the 13th century. In 1402 Robert van Dorenweerd sold the castle to Count Reinald IV of Geldern and received it back as a Geldrisches fief in return.

During the 15th century the castle was probably enlarged by the knight Reinald van Homoet, who was also the owner of Doornenburg Castle . He had it converted into a four-wing complex with a central courtyard.

Doorwerth got its current form around 1560 under Daem Schellart van Obbendorf , the 15th lord of Dorenweerd, and his wife Walrave van Voorst. Only the building on the north-west corner dates from a later time, as does the gatehouse of the complex, which Deam and Walrave's grandson Johann Albrecht had built around 1640. The construction of the outer bailey in its current form and the construction of a dike to protect the area from the flooding of the Rhine also fell during this period.

In 1667 the owners sold the castle to Count Anton I von Aldenburg due to financial problems . His family rarely used the complex and the buildings began to deteriorate. Anton's descendants sold it in 1837 to Jacob Adriaan Prosper van Brakell, who had a complete renovation carried out so that the castle could then be used as a residence. For example, the castle chapel in neo -Gothic style dates from this period . After the death of his widow, however, the decline began again, which was stopped in 1910 by Frederic Adolph Hoefer. The retired officer bought the property and had it restored until 1915 .

At the end of September 1944, during World War II , there were also skirmishes for Oosterbeek during the Battle of Arnhem . Wehrmacht soldiers set up a machine gun post in the castle. On the night of September 25-26, 1944, around 2,400 encircled Allied soldiers were liberated. Before that, British troops shot at the castle and the surrounding area massively. The castle was badly damaged.

The reconstruction lasted until 1983 and restored the state of the castle as in the 18th century. Since 1969 it has belonged to the “Friends of the Castles of Gelderland” foundation.

literature

  • Carel Cypriaan Gerard Quarles van Ufford: Kasteel Doorwerth, Doorwerth. A bezit van Geldersche Kasteelen . Stichting Vrienden der Geldersche Kasteelen, Arnhem 1991.

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Castle history on mooigelderland.nl ( Memento from March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b Information about the exhibition Kasteel Doorwerth in de frontlinie September - October 1944 ( Memento from June 21, 2019 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ excitingegeschiedenis.nl , accessed on January 18, 2020.

Coordinates: 51 ° 58 '0.7 "  N , 5 ° 47' 11.8"  E