Castle "Drachenburg

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View from Bonn-Mehlem
Aerial photograph (2015)
Part of the Drachenburg in Königswinter with a view of the restaurant terrace, the park and the Rhine.

Drachenburg Castle is a castle on the Drachenfels in Königswinter . It was built in record time from 1882 to 1884 in the style of historicism (especially neo-early gothic on the exterior and neo-renaissance in the interior) as a representative residence for Stephan von Sarter , who, however, never lived in the castle. After his death, the castle was subjected to several changes in use.

In 1986, Drachenburg Castle was placed under a preservation order and in 1990 it was made subject to the North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation for Nature Conservation, Heritage and Culture . From 1995 to 2010 it was restored to its original state and expanded into a kind of Wilhelminian-style museum with a focus on contemporary living culture. The restoration companies Bachmann & Wille and Bauhütte Quedlinburg won the Peter Parler Prize in 2011 for the reconstruction of the entrance stairs. The interiors as well as the wall paintings and historicist glass paintings have been reconstructed as much as possible in the original design. As an outstanding example of the genre, the palace park is one of the founding members of the Route of Garden Art between the Rhine and Maas and is part of the European Garden Heritage Network .

The museum on the history of nature conservation in Germany is also located in the outer bailey.

location

At the transition between the Middle and Lower Rhine, the castle is located on a small plateau on the northwest slope of the Drachenfels, facing the Rhine Valley, at a good 200  m above sea level. NHN and thus 150 meters above the river. East of the lead Eselsweg called ascent to the Drachenfels and the Drachenfelsbahn along their middle station here Drachenburg Castle has.

history

Wilhelminian style private villa

The builder Freiherr Stephan von Sarter (1833–1902) around 1880

Drachenburg Castle was built from 1882 to 1884 as a private villa for the Bonn- born Parisian financial expert Stephan von Sarter . Coming from a middle-class background, Sarter had made a meteoric career as a stock market speculator on the Paris Stock Exchange and had made his fortune as a shareholder in the Suez Canal and Panama Canal . In 1881 he was able to be raised to the baron class with a generous donation . As Baron Stephan von Sarter, from then on he belonged to the upper class. For the construction of a befitting villa, Sarter did not choose his adopted home Paris, but rather the much-visited Drachenfels within sight of his native Bonn. The young Düsseldorf architect duo Bernhard Tüshaus and Leo von Abbema were initially hired as architects . Afterwards, the former Cologne cathedral student Wilhelm Hoffmann , who lived in Paris, was responsible for the further development. With the construction of Drachenburg Castle, Sarter created a very self-confident and widely visible demonstration of his reputation and wealth as well as a national monument referring to the establishment of the Empire in 1871 . He lived in Paris until his death in 1902 and never lived in the castle. He paid a total of 1.8 million gold marks for the building. In the castle you can still find his barons coat of arms with his motto: “Weigh and dare!” (Based on the motto of the Sal. Oppenheim bank, “Weighing and wagons”, where he did his training).

In 1885 the Drachenburg residential area in the city of Königswinter had 16 residents in two buildings.

Drachenburg around 1900
Outer bailey
Drachenburg Castle (left) and Drachenfels Castle ruins (right)
Drachenburg Castle with park, vertical view

The magnificent ensemble was built in the style of so-called historicism , an architectural style of the 19th century that was based on the architectural styles of bygone eras. With its abundance of turrets, bay windows and battlements , the castle primarily cites medieval structures. The richly decorated architecture reflects the imperial worldview, art and culture. In complete contrast to the visible, medieval historicizing architecture, the building's interior contains modern technology from the 19th century. Gas lamps provided good lighting, and central warm air heating ensured even temperatures. Spiral stairs made of standardized cast iron parts, a roof structure made of riveted steel girders, cast iron columns and the like. a. were skilfully integrated into the building without impairing the desired overall impression of medieval craftsmanship. The modern construction method ensured the astonishingly short construction time of only three years. Three architects, 20 specialist firms and 20 different artists, together with three site managers and countless workers, ensured rapid construction progress. Carts and a donkey caravan transporting the building materials up the mountain - in the Seven Mountains thus created a real construction site.

First tourist use

Baron Stephan von Sarter died childless, and in 1903 Sarter's nephew, Jakob Hubert Biesenbach (1870–1947), bought Drachenburg Castle for 950,000 marks. In order to use his property profitably, he opened the castle to the public. The interior could be viewed for a fee of 0.50 marks. Art objects were exhibited for sale in the art gallery. As a souvenir, visitors were offered richly illustrated castle guides, art postcards and picture portfolios. In 1904, Biesenbach had the nearby castle courtyard , which dates back to the Middle Ages, torn down and replaced by a hotel with a Swiss-style restaurant for the accommodation and catering of the guests . The castle was also adapted to the new requirements, a restaurant and various lounges were created in the basement.

In addition, “Nordic houses”, log houses with two to three rooms, were built in the palace park in the following years. They owe their names to the popularity of Richard Wagner : Volker , Wotan , Brunhilde , Siegfried , Chrimhilde , Walküre , Tristan , Parsival and Isolde . The last four houses mentioned have been preserved to this day - even if they have been rebuilt many times - conifer forests and a game reserve were laid out around this early example of a holiday home area, creating an appropriately Nordic atmosphere. In 1910 Biesenbach sold the castle to Rittmeister a. D. Egbert by Simon. From 1923 the castle was owned by the Cologne factory owner and businessman Hermann Flohr. Under the two private owners, the palace and park remained largely unchanged.

Conversion to the catholic home school St. Michael

In 1931 Drachenburg Castle was converted into a Catholic boarding school. The order of the brothers of the Christian schools used the castle, park and log houses as a home school for St. Michael. The Christian Brothers joined in their teaching Catholic beliefs with the ideals of the youth movement movement . Boarding school life was characterized by simplicity, closeness to nature and friendly cooperation.

The school philosophy could not be reconciled with the magnificent interior of the palace. The inventory was therefore already auctioned in 1930, and the castle rooms were converted. Classrooms were built on the upper floor. The art gallery served as a chapel and the pub room as a sacristy. The kitchen and dining rooms were set up in the basement. Equipment elements perceived as suggestive, such as the Venus on the terrace of the same name or the Bacchantes in the pub room, have been removed or painted over. The students lived in the Nordic log houses that were converted and expanded. The park was used for agriculture and a house garden, flower beds and greenhouses were added. In 1938 the school brothers had to give in to the political pressure of the National Socialists and close their home school. The Syndikus Brockelmann, who was entrusted with the protection of their interests, offered the palace to the Reich Ministry of Science, Education and National Education for the purchase of a national political school in August 1938 , which refused to accept it the following month.

Adolf Hitler School

On September 19, 1940, the German Labor Front (DAF) acquired Drachenburg Castle including the castle courtyard from the school brothers for 600,000 Reichsmarks , in order to transfer the Adolf Hitler School "3", which had previously been provisionally housed in the Ordensburg Sonthofen in Bavaria and actually intended for Waldbröl , for to relocate the Gau Cologne-Aachen for the training of National Socialist executives. On October 31, 1940, the castle ensemble was handed over to the DAF and then rebuilt for new uses. After the school moved to Königswinter at the end of 1941, due to the ongoing renovation work, the students and teaching staff initially had to live in the Hotel Berliner Hof and the regional driving school in the Hotel Mattern and could only move into the castle in the summer of 1942. The original main entrance, a two-flight staircase with a portico, fell victim to the renovation. It had to give way to a simple monumental staircase. The broken stones were scattered around the park as rubble. The park was used for the military training of the students. During the course of the war, anti-aircraft and combat positions were set up below the castle . From the summer of 1944, the Koblenz Adolf Hitler School "4" , which had previously been located in the Ordensburg Vogelsang , was also housed at Schloss Drachenburg.

War destruction

The castle building was badly damaged by artillery fire in the last days of the war. The bullet holes can still be seen today, especially on the west facade on the Rhine side and the ceiling of the entrance hall. The central dome of the Kunsthalle was badly damaged. The almost complete destruction of the precious stained glass windows in the art gallery and in the representation rooms meant a particularly heavy loss . In March 1945 American troops were able to occupy the Drachenburg without a fight. They temporarily set up their high command there. Refugees were later quartered in the castle rooms. After the billeting, large parts of the wall paintings were missing. The glued-on canvas prints had been ruthlessly torn from the walls and stolen.

Reichsbahnzentralschule, reconstruction in 1948

From 1947 to 1960 the castle was used by the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the Deutsche Bundesbahn . The Reichsbahndirektion Wuppertal rented the palace ensemble as a "Pedagogical Reichsbahnzentralschule". The railway school was opened in December 1948. The castle rooms were used for training purposes. A true-to-scale teaching signal box supplemented the lessons in the art gallery. The director had his office in the Nibelungen room.

Despite the lack of workers and materials, the war damage was poorly repaired in an 18-month construction period with the great commitment of all those involved. The art gallery received an emergency roof. The east window front of the art gallery was bricked up. The materials removed there could be used to repair the badly damaged Rhine front. The rebuilding of the shot dome had to be dispensed with. Instead, the remains were removed and the stones dumped in the park forest.

Lack of appreciation, vacancy and decay

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia had owned the castle ensemble since 1953 , after the school brothers waived their claims for reimbursement. In 1960 the Deutsche Bundesbahn moved the school. Due to a lack of interested parties, Drachenburg Castle stood empty in the following years. Eventually it was even cleared for demolition to make way for a modern office building. The demolition could only be prevented through vigorous protests by the monument preservation authorities, the population, some politicians and the great commitment of the Königswinter local history researcher Theo Hardenberg. It was still pending use.

The palace and park were becoming increasingly overgrown. Looting and vandalism affected the interior furnishings that had been preserved. Other parts of the wall paintings were stolen, the paneling served as firewood, and the old wrought iron lamps disappeared. According to the local press, the castle degenerated into a "Hascher stronghold". Homeless people found shelter in the abandoned rooms.

In private ownership, free renovation

In 1971 Paul Spinat , a private citizen, saved Drachenburg Castle from final ruin. At a time when there was a lack of public interest in Wilhelminian style architecture, he acquired the entire ensemble for 500,000  DM , payable in ten annual installments. According to its own statements, Spinat invested several million DM in restoring the architecture. In 1973, Spinach opened the castle to the public.

He had the rooms restored at his own discretion, some things seem quite daring from today's perspective. The missing wall paintings were added by young artists, stained glass replaced the destroyed colored windows. The furniture was a colorful collection of antiques and curiosities such as the so-called throne chair Louis XIV. Spinach enriched the park with garden figures and concrete balustrades, a pool surrounded by columns and the like. Ä. Paul Spinach was famous for his bizarre ideas. He drove to his lock in a gold-colored Rolls-Royce. His cultural events featured prominent figures, for example Andy Warhol was a guest once and created a picture with the motif of the outer bailey. His organ concerts, which he used to give in the music hall on a dummy organ using a tape recorder, are legendary. His wife believed in his qualities as an organist until his death, when she was convinced that the organ was unplayable.

Owned by the North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation, restoration under monument protection

In 1986 the palace ensemble was placed under monument protection. Three years later it was renovated and used for the first time with the last change of ownership since then. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia acquired the palace and park for almost eight million DM and transferred the ensemble to the North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation for Nature Conservation, Heritage and Culture. In close cooperation with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the city of Königswinter, the foundation is having the palace ensemble extensively restored.

Drachenburg Castle, construction work in the park (spring 2010)

The restoration was preceded by careful preliminary examinations of the building fabric and the park. A comprehensive report completed in 1994 formed the basis for the restoration work, which was initially estimated to last twelve years, and ultimately until the official reopening of the castle on July 3, 2010 and including remaining measures until June 2011. The construction of the middle station of the Drachenfelsbahn near the castle entrance was completed in May 2011. On July 3, 2011, the entire park of Drachenburg Castle was released. More than 65 planning offices and experts as well as 270 companies and craft businesses were involved in the restoration - that means around 3500 people. At approx. 27 million euros, the costs roughly corresponded to the forecast costs of the expert opinion for the basic repairs.

Reconstructed stained glass windows in the art gallery with illustrations by Heine , Uhland , Schiller , Rückert and Simrock .

The stained glass windows of the Kunsthalle were reconstructed by the Mayer'schen Hofkunstanstalt according to original designs by Wilhelm Hoffmann , architect of the palace .

Chronology of the restoration work

  • 1991–1994: Preliminary investigations and preparation of an overall report
  • 1995: Findings of the natural stones scattered in the park
  • 1996: Establishment of the construction site
  • 1994: Emergency safety measures on the north tower and carriage hall
  • 1994: Start of the renovation of the approx. 1.6 km long castle park wall
  • 1995 / 96–99: Renovation of the terrace wall
  • 1999: Reconstruction of the Venusterrasse
  • 1998–2000: Restoration of the north tower with a modern viewing platform
  • 1998–2000: Complete renovation of the outer bailey (with 2.8 million euros from the agreement on compensatory measures for the Bonn region )
  • 2001–2003: Restoration of the art gallery with reconstruction of the dome
  • from 2003: restoration of the residential wing with the main tower
  • May 2003: Start of the interior restoration (Kneipzimmer in the north tower)
  • 2004: Interior restoration and opening of the art gallery with pub room
  • Scaffolding with weather protection roof on the core structure
  • Start of renovation work on the core construction
  • 2005: Reinstallation of the restored clock tower and the bell tower
  • 2006: Completion of all shell construction, carpentry, locksmith and roofing work
  • Beginning of the interior restoration of the Nibelungen and passage rooms, library and billiard room
  • 2007: Completion and opening of the Nibelungen and passage rooms, library and billiard room
  • Start of scaffolding dismantling (until August 2007)
  • 2008: Restoration of the original portal system of the main entrance, which was demolished around 1942, begins
  • 3rd July 2010: Symbolic handover of the keys and completion of the renovation work
  • by the end of 2010 / June 2011: restoration of the historical access and the outdoor facilities
  • July 2011: Opening of the new permanent exhibition
  • December 2015: Installation of the reconstructed stained glass window in the Nibelungen Room (based on original drafts by the)
  • June 2017: Installation of a large, reconstructed stained glass window in the art gallery (based on original drafts)
  • 2019: Installation of several reconstructed stained glass windows in the Kunsthalle (based on original drafts)

Current uses

The 10 hectare park has been accessible again since 2007. Since the beginning of June 2009 the castle can be visited together with a museum on the history of the castle, an exhibition on the restoration work and the museum on the history of nature conservation in Germany (in the outer bailey). The castle can either be reached on foot or via the nearby middle station of the Drachenfelsbahn .

The castle is occasionally used as a location for film and television productions, such as B. Schtonk! (1992), Babylon Berlin (2016 and 2018), or Bares for Rares (2018 and 2019). According to managing director Joachim Odenthal, these productions increase the profile of the castle, ensure increasing numbers of visitors and improve the profitability of the operating company "Schloss Drachenburg gGmbH". For the productions, however, the castle remains closed to the public for several days.

reception

"Hoffmann (...) created a vividly sculpted silhouette, whereby the Drachenburg is visible and unmistakable even from a distance, even within the extremely moving landscape."

- Hermann Josef Roth (1988)

“The highlight of historical architecture [in Königswinter] is the Drachenburg Castle, which was completed in 1884 in an exposed location halfway up the Drachenfels. In a picturesque form that cannot be increased, palace construction, fortress and villa architecture of architectural and historical importance are combined. "

- Angelika Schyma (1992)

literature

Web links

Commons : Schloss Drachenburg  - Collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Panoramic view from the Venusterrasse. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. March 14, 2008, accessed February 7, 2014 .
  2. ↑ Peter Parler Prize: The winners have been announced. (No longer available online.) In: Naturstein - Das Fachportal. April 7, 2011, archived from the original on February 22, 2014 ; Retrieved February 7, 2014 .
  3. ↑ Jakob Hubert Biesenbach: "A Rhenish Young". The life novel of a young Bonn native. Karlsruhe 1937.
  4. ^ North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation: Schloss Drachenburg: historicist castle romanticism on the Rhine . Ed .: North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation. German Kunstverl, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-422-02241-6 .
  5. ^ State Conservator Rhineland: Bad Honnef - Urban Development and Urban Structure. Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1979, p. 4.
  6. ^ Community encyclopedia for the Kingdom of Prussia. Volume XII Province of Rhineland. Publishing house of the Royal Statistical Bureau, 1888, p. 118 , accessed on February 7, 2014 .
  7. ↑ a b c Ansgar Sebastian Klein : Rise and rule of National Socialism in the Siebengebirge . Klartext Verlag, Essen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89861-915-8 , p. 241/242 (also dissertation University of Bonn, 2007).
  8. ^ Schloss Drachenburg: Tour of the Kunsthalle. Retrieved May 9, 2020 .
  9. ^ Andy Warhol: The outer bailey. View the painting on sothebys.com
  10. ↑ Rüdiger Franz: Drachenburg Castle is turnkey. In: General-Anzeiger. June 19, 2010. Retrieved September 11, 2017 .
  11. ^ Distelrath, Ellermann, Kaldewey, Strack: Schloss Drachenburg: historical castle romanticism on the Rhine . Ed .: North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation. German Kunstverl, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-422-02241-6 , pp. 253 .
  12. ↑ a b Elena Sebening: According to original designs in Munich: Stained glass windows at Drachenburg Castle reconstructed. General Anzeiger Bonn, accessed on May 9, 2020 .
  13. ^ Grandly through the park of the Drachenburg. In: General-Anzeiger. July 4, 2011, accessed September 5, 2017 .
  14. ↑ Drachenburg Castle. projekt2508 GmbH, accessed on February 7, 2014 (exhibition concept).
  15. ↑ "Babylon Berlin" plays at Drachenburg Castle. In: General-Anzeiger , October 5, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  16. ^ A b Hansjürgen Melzer: These TV productions take place at Drachenburg Castle. In: General-Anzeiger Online. October 17, 2018, accessed October 20, 2018 .
  17. ^ Hermann Josef Roth: DuMont art travel guide Bonn: from the Roman garrison to the federal capital - art and nature between the Voreifel and the Siebengebirge . DuMont, Cologne 1988, ISBN 978-3-7701-1970-7 , p. 285.
  18. ↑ Angelika Schyma : City of Königswinter (= monument topography of the Federal Republic of Germany , monuments in the Rhineland , volume 23.5.). Rheinland-Verlag, Cologne 1992, ISBN 3-7927-1200-8 , p. 47.

Coordinates: 50 ° 40 ′ 7.2 ″  N , 7 ° 12 ′ 22.9 ″  E