Erxleben Castle
The Erxleben Castle is a palace complex in Erxleben , which consists of a medieval castle on the old military road between Braunschweig and Magdeburg has emerged. It had been owned by the von Alvensleben family since 1282 .
middle Ages
Erxleben Castle was a low castle with moats and ramparts. The first installation could have been made shortly after the year 1100. Archbishop Wichmann von Magdeburg bought the strategically important castle in 1166 . In 1214 (or 1218) it was destroyed by Emperor Otto IV , the Guelph, in the fight against the Hohenstaufen. Around 1270, at the latest in 1282, it could have come into the possession of the knight Gebhard II von Alvensleben (mentioned 1251–1283), who at that time was still living in the neighboring Alvensleben Castle .
Around 1300 his grandson Friedrich von Alvensleben was the last master of the Templar order in the German and Slavic countries. The castle was often fought over in the Middle Ages. In 1317 the Brandenburg Margrave Waldemar and Magdeburg Archbishop Burchard besieged them ; In 1319 again the archbishop and in 1352 the citizenship of Magdeburg , whereby the castle burned out. In 1399 a third of the castle was pledged to Duke Friedrich I of Braunschweig (1357 / 58–1400). What followed was a very troubled time in which Erxleben was exposed to continued feuds, devastation and pledges. In 1441 the castle was shot and burned, but not captured, by the dukes Heinrich II of Braunschweig and Otto IV of Lüneburg. The pledges changed hands until they were finally in 1505 by Busso IX. von Alvensleben († 1534) could be redeemed again. Erxleben remained a Brandenburg enclave and a strategic outpost at the intersection of important military roads in the middle of the Archbishopric of Magdeburg , near the borders of the Diocese of Halberstadt and the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . The von Alvensleben family held various court offices in the states of Brandenburg, Magdeburg and Halberstadt .
Division 1554
The central building of the older Castle II is the front castle from the 15th century with the new bower from 1430. The complex was changed after a fire in 1526. In 1553, the red line of Alvensleben, which Erxleben had owned up until then, died out, and the castle was inherited from the white and black lines of the family. At the time of division, the white line (Erxleben I) received the main tower in the castle, which was demolished in 1785, the house with the former chapel, the old dilapidated building up to the brewery, half of all barns and stables and the space between the two walls from the old transverse wall up to the gate at the Hausmannsturm. The black line (Erxleben II) got: the new residential building, the brewery, the building above the gate between the residential building and the tower, half of the barns and stables and the space with the outwork from the gate to the old transverse wall. The two parts were separated by a wall. The Erxleben court with numerous farming villages was controlled by both lines, administration and justice had their seat in the castle, the taxes in kind were delivered and implemented here and in times of war the inhabitants found protection with all their cattle in the large castle complex. Since the 16th century, two large self-owned farms were established.
Castle chapel
Both lines built a new joint castle chapel St. Godehard. The shell was built from 1562 to 1564 based on the medieval Hausmannsturm, crowned by a Renaissance hood. The further expansion dragged on until 1580. The first service took place on September 9, 1582. The builders were Joachim I von Alvensleben (1514–1588) from the Black Line and Valentin von Alvensleben (1529–1594) from the White Line, on the basis of a foundation by Busso IX. von Alvensleben († 1534).
In 1674, Gebhard Johann II von Alvensleben (1642–1700) had the church renovated and the burial vault built underneath. Joachim I was the first lord of the castle to be buried in the chapel. Before that, during the Catholic period, the lords of Erxleben had been buried for centuries in a grave chapel in the Mariental monastery near Helmstedt. Joachim I was followed by many more generations of the von Alvensleben family until 1928, when Count Albrecht von Alvensleben-Schönborn (1848–1928) found his final resting place there. The tombs are carved down into the rock on several floors. Accordingly, the chapel is richly decorated with tombstones and epitaphs from several centuries, which act like a family chronicle. In the years 1709/1710 the chapel received a new organ, built by the well-known Magdeburg master organ builder Heinrich Herbst and his father. The chapel had its own library, the so-called chapel library with approx. 2200 volumes, which was donated by both lines in the 16th century.
After the end of the war in 1945, the interior of the chapel - under Soviet occupation - was badly damaged, especially the organ, its pipework, the altar and the epitaphs. The stalls were burned. The two crypts of the von Alvensleben families and coffins were opened by force. After that, poorly restored, the castle church became the property of the Protestant parish in 1951 and was used as a Catholic church from 1953 to 1996. Over the years and decades, damage to the roof and roof structure worsened and also seized the organ. A “Förderkreis Schlosskirche Erxleben eV” founded in 1998 - on the initiative of Joachim von Alvensleben - successfully tried to preserve the valuable cultural monument. The renovation of the castle church building began in the same year. The restoration of the organ work and the prospectus, for which well-known experts could be won, then took the time from 2015 to autumn 2019. The renewed organ was inaugurated in October 2019 with a festive service in the castle church. Everything was financed through donations, grants and contributions from the members. The commemorative publication and thus the organ restoration received a very positive review in the renowned specialist journal ARS ORGANI. The second chairman of the development association, Ms. Hildegard Bernick, was awarded the badge of honor of the state of Saxony-Anhalt by the Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, in 2020 due to her services .
About three quarters of the holdings of the chapel library have been preserved and are now combined with the other remains of the Alvensleben libraries at Hundisburg Castle .
Hausmannsturm
The tower of the chapel is the old, 50 meter high Hausmannsturm , the landmark of Erxleben, with a view that stretches from Magdeburg Cathedral to the Harz Mountains. It used to be used as a watch tower and to guard the main bridge over the moat that was originally close to it and is first mentioned in 1339. According to Hugo Prejawa's research (1905) it was built before 1319. According to other research, a previous building already existed around 920. It is said to have been only 28 meters high at first, raised at the beginning of the 15th century and crowned with a baroque tail hood and lantern in the middle of the 17th century. A tower guard lived upstairs until the 19th century. In 1950 the tower was restored (slate covering) and in 1998 it received a new tower ball.
Further building history
After the division in 1554, Joachim I. von Alvensleben in particular built further buildings. This included the Joachimsbau and the farmyard. The castle had two tall medieval towers, one of which was demolished around 1785. The residential buildings have had high roofs adorned with dwelling houses since the Renaissance period. Under Gebhard Johann II von Alvensleben, Erxleben II Castle was fundamentally renovated in 1679–1682, the gables removed and the roof shapes simplified. Friedrich August II. Von Alvensleben (1750–1813) had the late Baroque Erxleben I built from 1782 to 1784.
In 1840 the facade of Erxleben II Palace was given a two-story balcony bay window. In 1905 the library was built as a conversion of an old barn with a stair tower, in the style of Dankwarderode Castle, which was reconstructed at the time . The valuable library, the so-called feudal library , to which the entire family had rights, was set up here since Joachim I von Alvensleben (1514–1588), a scholar, reformer and diplomat . In addition to loan letters, it also contained an important early humanist book collection of around 4,700 volumes, with incunabula, early prints and some unica. In addition, there was the allodial or Fideikommissbibliothek Erxleben II with around 7000 books, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries. In the manner of a rarity chamber, old weapons and collector's items as well as painted heraldic tablets were also exhibited. The parts of the Alvensleben library that have been preserved are now placed again in Hundisburg Castle , where the feudal library was already located in the 18th century. Today the “Burggalerie” home parlor is located in the rooms of the Erxleben library.
Both manors were expropriated in 1945 - after almost 700 years - through the land reform in the Soviet occupation zone. The Baroque castle Erxleben I is used today for the branch of the association of Flechtingen . The large Renaissance building of Erxleben II Castle, which housed a secondary school after the Second World War , has been vacant for a number of years and is in some cases acutely threatened with collapse. As the owner, the municipality tries to preserve it with the help of the German Foundation for Monument Protection . The von Alvensleben family has bought back part of the forest land.
Erxleben Castle I (2011)
Erxleben Castle II (2009)
Reconstruction drawings by Anco Wigboldus
The art historian Udo von Alvensleben-Wittenmoor (1897–1962) made two drawings in 1935 and 1936 together with the Dutch painter Anco Wigboldus, in which the condition of the entire complex in 1785 and 1910 is shown.
View from 1785
The first view shows the castle Erxleben from the north-west. The time after the construction of the baroque castle Erxleben I and before the demolition of the keep in the center of the castle is intended. In the foreground are the buildings of Erxleben I, on the right the older, 1554–1784 inhabited castle of the White Line , in front of it the associated garden. Beyond the keep is the medieval Erxleben II castle with four stair towers, in which the Black Line of Alvensleben lived until 1945. Their farmyard, the former outer bailey, adjoins in a semicircle to the south. Behind the castle you can see the castle chapel, the Hausmannsturm and the gardens of Erxleben II.
View from 1910
The second view shows the castle from the south-east as it was in 1910. In the foreground you can see the semicircle of the farmyard, laid out by Joachim I, overlooked on the left by the Erxleben I castle, which has not been inhabited since 1784. starting with the high-gabled Joachims building, continuing to over the stair tower of the library, which was expanded in 1905. Right in front of it is the Hausmannsturm, which originally shielded the castle gate and three successive drawbridges. The palace chapel and the baroque palace Erxleben I can be seen behind it.
Rescue of works of art from Magdeburg Cathedral at Erxleben Castle
In the Second World War , under the influence of the increasing bombing raids on German cities, the relocation of particularly valuable interior fittings from cathedrals and other church buildings was organized to protect art . In August 1943, following selection by the provincial curator Hermann Giesau, the following objects were moved from Magdeburg Cathedral to Erxleben : the magnificent Gothic choir stalls , the three-winged Nicholas altar and the two cathedral windows by Professor Fritz Geiges with the history of the cathedral and the Reformation in Magdeburg. These cultural assets were placed in the castle church, library rooms and the estate. Before the change from British to Soviet occupation, on the initiative of the von Alvensleben family, which had been warned, the art treasures could be transported to Pattensen in Lower Saxony in June 1945 , from there to the Celle Castle Art Collection . In 1954 they returned to Magdeburg. However, the two colored glass windows were not reinstalled in the cathedral, but are considered "lost".
literature
- Siegmund Wilhelm Wohlbrück: Historical news of the Alvensleben family and their goods . Volume 1 and 2, 1819, Volume 3, 1829.
- Bernhard Rudolf Behrends: Chronicle of the district Neuhaldensleben . Second revised edition, first volume. Neuhaldensleben 1890.
- Hugo Prejawa : The Erxleben Castle . In: 34th annual report of the Altmark Association for Patriotic History in Salzwedel, Magdeburg 1907, pp. 139–150. online (full annual report)
- Udo von Alvensleben-Wittenmoor: Alvensleben castles and country houses . Dortmund 1960.
- Marie-Luise Harksen: The art monuments of the Haldensleben district . Leipzig 1961, pp. 235-273.
- Udo von Alvensleben, Harald von Koenigswald : Visits before the sinking . Frankfurt / M., Berlin 1968, pp. 182-204.
- Michael Behrens: On the history of the organ in the Erxleben palace chapel . Annual journal of the district museum Haldensleben, Volume 25, 1984, pp. 28–39.
- Busso Graf von Alvensleben: Erxleben and the von Alvensleben family . Reprint from castles, palaces, manor houses in Saxony-Anhalt, 1996.
- Rudolf Peisker: The historical experience - a chronicle . Editor: Municipality of Erxleben. Staßfurt (no year) around 1998.
- Udo von Alvensleben-Wittenmoor: The last five generations of Alvensleben in Erxleben II - 1782–1945 (written 1959). Published by the von Alvensleben eV family, Falkenberg August 2008, 44 pp.
- Busso von Alvensleben : Burg und Schlösser Erxleben, Ldk. Börde, in: Castles and Palaces in Saxony-Anhalt , communications from the Saxony-Anhalt regional group of the German Castle Association, issue 17 Halle / Saale 2008, pp. 408–429, 12 fig.
- Busso von Alvensleben: Erxleben . Editor: Deutsche Gesellschaft Sachsen-Anhalt eV, series of publications "Palaces and Gardens in Saxony-Anhalt", Döbbelin 2009, 28 pp.
- Hildegard Bernick: History of the Hausmannsturm Erxleben . In: Börde, Bode, Heide. Heimatschrift 2009. Published by the district of Börde. Haldensleben 2009, pp. 3–9.
- Hildegard Bernick: The castle church Erxleben and its builders . In: Börde, Bode, Heide. Heimatschrift 2010. Published by the district of Börde. Haldensleben 2010, pp. 71–78.
- The autumn organ of the castle church in Erxleben. A monument to baroque organ building in the Magdeburg Börde . Festschrift on the occasion of the restoration of the autumn organ 2019. With contributions by: Hildegard Bernick, Holger Brülls, Jörg Dutschke, Christoph Hackbeil, Wolf Hobohm, Christoph Noetzel, Volker Seifert and Mathias Zimmer-Belter. Ed. Förderkreis Schlosskirche Erxleben eV Meeting point monument no. 6. Erxleben and Halle 2019. Festschrift available for a donation from the Förderkreis at < https://www.schlosskirche-erxleben.de >.
- Martin Balz: Discussion of the commemorative publication Die Herbst-Orgel der Schlosskirche zu Erxleben. A monument to baroque organ building in the Magdeburg Börde . Ars Organi magazine : Volume 68, June 2020, pp. 126–127
Individual evidence
- ↑ Hildegard Bernick: The rescue of the choir stalls from the Magdeburg Cathedral 1943 to 1954 . Ed. "Förderkreis Schlosskirche Erxleben eV" Erxleben and Magdeburg, 2009 and 2016. S. 5
- ↑ The organ of the Schlosskirche Erxleben at organindex.de , accessed on July 29, 2020.
- ↑ The autumn organ of the castle church in Erxleben . Festschrift of the Friends' Association, Erxleben 2019
- ↑ A great collaborative effort. Saved: The restored baroque organ of the Erxleben Castle Church is inaugurated again . Faith and Home, 2019
- ↑ Martin Balz: Review of the Festschrift for the re-consecration of the organ: in Ars Organi, 68th year, June 2020, pp. 126-127
- ↑ Hildegard Bernick: The rescue of the choir stalls from the Magdeburg Cathedral 1943 to 1954 . Ed .: Förderkreis Schlosskirche Erxleben eV Erxleben and Magdeburg 2009 and 2016
Web links
- Erxleben Castle at braunschweig-touren.de
- Material on Erxleben Castle, Part 1 in the Alexander Duncker Collection (PDF; 216 kB)
- Material on Erxleben Castle, Part 2 in the Alexander Duncker Collection (PDF; 293 kB)
- Erxleben Castle at familie-von-alvensleben.de
Coordinates: 52 ° 13 ′ 6 " N , 11 ° 14 ′ 26.3" E