Dornberg Castle

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Today's Dornberg Castle (occasionally also Dornberg or Dornburg Castle ) is the remainder of a Landgrave-Hessian palace complex that was built on the remains of the core castle of a medieval moated castle ( tower hill castle (Motte) with moat ). It is located in Dornberg , a district of Groß-Gerau in the district of the same name in Hesse.

Dornberg Castle, gateway to the main castle
View of the gateway to the outer bailey, on the right the modern extension of the adult education center
Matthäus Merian : View of Gerau from the Topographia Hassiae . Left the Dornberg Castle
Dornberg Castle, old forester's house

location

Dornberg Castle is located to the northwest on the edge of an old course of the Neckar . Today the moat flows around a sand dune in a wide loop, on which the Roman fort Groß-Gerau and the associated vicus were previously located southwest of the castle complex at a road crossing. The area southeast of the castle was probably hardly accessible then as it is today and is overgrown with reeds.

history

An Eberhardus de Dornburg is mentioned for the first time around 1160 . The castle was first mentioned as castrum Dorenburg in the years 1236/45. The castle, which was probably built by the Lords of Dornberg , was a fief of the Counts of Henneberg . After Conrad von Dornberg died childless in 1257, Diether V. von Katzenelnbogen managed to acquire the fiefdom, as he was related to the Hennebergers on his mother's side.

In the 13th and 14th centuries the outer bailey was built and the castle was further expanded. The Dornberger Castle became the center of the Katzenelnbogen Upper County . Although it was moved to Darmstadt in 1375 , the castle in Dornberg was expanded in the 15th century. A round residential tower, which had formed the core castle up to that time, was demolished in favor of a new castle building.

When the Count of Katzenelnbogen died out in 1479, the castle fell to Heinrich III. of Hesse , but remained a Henneberg fiefdom and was temporarily pledged. It was not until the Landshut War of Succession that Wilhelm von Henneberg had to renounce his feudal sovereignty. The Hessian landgraves only use the castle for occasional hunting trips. On February 14, 1689, French troops burned Dornberg Castle in the War of the Palatinate Succession . 1722-26 the stones were reused to build the neighboring pheasantry wall. Only a few remains have been preserved, some of which have been converted into a hunting lodge. 1832-1837 was the seat of the district administration here. However, the building was also demolished in the 19th century. The gatehouse served as a youth hostel with a few newer extensions from 1953, and as a district youth home from 1960/63.

After extensive renovation, the remains of the castle are now home to the adult education center of the Groß-Gerau district.

investment

Parts of a restored gatehouse of the former core castle (tower hill castle) have been preserved. The area of ​​the core castle was not built over as a tower hill island and is now heavily overgrown. The artificially constructed tower hill / castle hill can still be seen clearly. It is interspersed with remains of masonry. The main castle had a polygonal ground plan with a diameter of 50 to 55 m. Today it is mostly surrounded by swampy terrain with reeds. Much better preserved are large parts of the outer bailey, including another restored gate building as well as the remains of the outer wall of the outer bailey in the east towards the moat.

In the western part of the outer bailey there is a building from the Wilhelminian era that was used as a forestry office. A new building for the adult education center was erected next to the former wall towards the village of Dornberg, which takes up the shape of the former outer bailey.

literature

  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , pp. 511f.
  • Thomas Steinmetz: Early low castles in southern Hesse and adjacent areas. Ober-Kainsbach 1989, p. 21f.
  • Thomas Wurzel: Cultural Discoveries South Hesse. Districts Bergstrasse, Darmstadt-Dieburg, Groß-Gerau, Odenwaldkreis and Offenbach, cities Darmstadt and Offenbach. Published by the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen. 2nd edition, Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2007, ISBN 978-3-7954-2013-0 , p. 121.

Web links

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

Coordinates: 49 ° 54 ′ 20.2 "  N , 8 ° 29 ′ 5.4"  E