Fürstenstein Castle (Fürstenstein)

Fürstenstein Castle
Upper Castle, Lower Castle and Parish Church of the Assumption of Mary
Data
place	Fürstenstein
Client	County neck
Construction year	before the 14th century
Coordinates	48 ° 43 '14.7 "  N , 13 ° 19' 42.9"  E Coordinates: 48 ° 43 '14.7 "  N , 13 ° 19' 42.9"  E

Fürstenstein Castle in the Bavarian community of Fürstenstein is one of the three eponymous buildings of the Dreiburgenland in the Bavarian Forest , along with the Saldenburg and the Englburg . It stands on a 578 meter high rock.

history

The castle is visible from afar on a hill around 70 meters above the intersection at the foot of the village. The Counts of Hals are usually believed to be the builders . The castle at that time was therefore conquered in 1330 or 1332 as part of a feud by Heinrich the Natternberger and then administered by ducal caretakers . Another tradition names the prince-bishops of Bamberg as owners, from whom Hetzmanstein received its current name and passed to the Bavarian duke as early as 1252.

Fürstenstein was first mentioned in a document in 1366. At that time Albrecht was the Puchberg nurse in the service of the Bavarian duke. In 1381 Duke Albrecht I left the castle to Landgrave Johann von Leuchtenberg as a personal property , in 1396 it was given to Wilhelm Puchberger. After the death of his father in 1416, his son Wilhelm sold the castle to his nephews Georg and Asam as a vintner. Asam, who soon became sole owner by contract, sold the castle in 1435 for 2,800 ducats to Bishop Leonhard von Passau.

This sale was reversed in 1437 and one of Asam's sons named Hartlieb became lord of the castle. He died in 1460, and in 1476 his daughter Elisabeth sold Fürstenstein to the Schwarzenstein family in Englburg. Artolf (Ortolf) Schwarzensteiner had the castle expanded into a palace in 1570. After the Schwarzensteiner died out in 1617, it fell to the Counts of Taufkirchen. By marriage it came into joint possession of Wilhelm Notthracht von Wernberg and Christoph von Thürheim . Under Wilhelm and Christoph's rule, a castle chaplain was founded in 1625 and the castle church was built in 1629 based on the model of the Gnadenkapelle von Altötting , which became a much-visited pilgrimage church and remained so until the 19th century.

Fürstenstein was sacked by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years War . After 1680 the castle fell to Count Ludwig von Perusa through the marriage of the heir's daughter. In 1742 the Pandours reached the place, although they were repulsed by a Bavarian free company, they nevertheless devastated the castle in 1744.

Fürstenstein Castle came to the Grand Ducal Hessian Lieutenant General Heinrich von Oyen through marriage in 1803 . In 1836 he sold the estate to the Bavarian state, while the castle was sold to the postman Maier. The chaplaincy was raised to a benefit in 1839 .

The castle then served as an inn with a brewery. In 1848 it was destroyed by fire and fell into disrepair. In 1860 the Passau bishop Heinrich von Hofstätter bought the ruins for 22,000 guilders. He had Fürstenstein Castle rebuilt and handed it over to the English Fräulein in 1861 . They set up a reformatory for neglected boys.

The reform home was converted into a boarding school with a boys' elementary school in 1893. At times up to 200 students and around 30 nuns lived in the boarding school.

The royal stables in the wing were expanded with a chapel in 1952 . In 2001, the English Misses closed the home elementary school due to a decline in the number of pupils and a lack of young people among religious women. The castle hit the headlines when it appeared together with the Englburg in 2005 on the eBay auction house as "Jewels in the Bavarian Forest". In 2007, the approximately 5000 square meter facility was acquired by the German Annette Pinker, who lives in Spain, who wanted to make the building complex, which offers an excellent view, partially accessible to the public as a cultural, educational and gastronomic project. Since a major renovation after 2007, the castle has been used for individual events such as the annual European summit, initiated by Konrad Kobler . But also cultural events take place in the knight's hall and in the castle courtyard. The castle can only be viewed from the outside.

Castle building

The current system is divided into two parts. A clear distinction can be made between the lower and the upper lock. The lower castle is grouped around an inner courtyard, on the eastern side of which there are three massive round towers. Medieval structures are still present in these towers.

A flight of stairs leads from the castle courtyard to the upper castle, the high castle. This is a two-wing building, on the south side of which remains of the medieval reinforcement are visible.

Furthermore, the castle is divided into a private and public area. The latter only includes the north wing of the lower castle and only this area is open for events.

From the palace chapel to the parish church of the Assumption of Mary

The Catholic parish church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is directly adjacent to the castle and is integrated into the complex. There is even a staircase that leads directly from the church into an adjoining hall of the castle. The church gradually emerged from the Chapel of Mercy in the 17th century and developed into a popular place of pilgrimage. Around 1620 it received the early Baroque replica of the Black Madonna of Altötting as an image of grace, which is still preserved today . During this time, the church called itself "Our Lady of God House and Castle Chapel in Neuenötting in the forest near Fürstenstein". In 1867 the church building was extended to the west and a 28-meter-high neo-Gothic octagonal tower with a pointed dome was built. Ten years later, in 1877, the benefit was raised to an expositur , and in 1894 to a parish . The number of Christians living in the village increased with the flourishing industry, so that a larger church was required. Total demolition and new construction were too expensive, however, and corresponding plans first destroyed the world economic crisis and then the Second World War . Therefore, in 1956 an extensive renovation was carried out in which all parts of the building were demolished except for the octagon of the choir and the tower. The spacious new building around the octagon was consecrated in 1957 . The house of God was completely refurbished except for the image of grace. This was created according to designs by the Landshut sculptor Karl Reidel, who mainly used local granite and bronze.

View of the Chorooctagon, state July 2013

On the occasion of the 375th anniversary of the church in 2004, the parish had another renovation and partial modernization carried out. Karl Reidel could be won over for this work. He added an altar island with a stone folk altar and more seating. The Munich artist Stefan Fritsch completely redesigned the color of the interior: the chorooctagon with bright orange wall surfaces serves as the new sacrament chapel of the parish church, the bronze altar cross and the people's altar together with a tabernacle placed in the middle form a design unit. The wooden paneling of the church ceiling was removed and replaced with a light gray paint. A metal tree of lights placed in front of the miraculous image emphasizes the little Madonna more strongly.

literature

• Joseph Klämpfl: The former Schweinach and Quinzingau . 2nd Edition. Neue Presse Verlags-GmbH, Passau 1993, ISBN 3-924484-73-2 .
• Bernhard Grueber, Adalbert Müller: The Bavarian Forest . Morsak Verlag, Grafenau 1993, ISBN 3-87553-415-8 .
• Günther T. Werner: Castles, palaces and ruins in the Bavarian Forest . Verlag Friedrich Pustet, Regensburg 1979, ISBN 3-7917-0603-9 , pp. 98-100.
• Gottfried Schäffer, Gregor Peda: Castles and palaces in the Passau region . Pannonia Verlag, Freilassing 1977, ISBN 3-7897-0060-6 , pp. 44-45.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Fürstenstein (Bavaria)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Castle history with pictures

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Schloss Fürstenstein on the community website ; Retrieved July 5, 2013
2. ↑ ^{a b c} visiting card Castle Church Fürstenstein
3. ↑ Fürstenstein has a new lady of the castle , in: Der Bayerwald-Bote , June 2, 2007
4. ↑ Timeline of the castle history