Frankenhausen Castle
The Frankenhausen Castle in Bad Frankenhausen in Thuringia was one of the side residences of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family . Today the castle houses the district home museum of the Kyffhäuserkreis .
historical overview
The castle goes back to a castle from the Middle Ages , which was once located on the outskirts of the Frankenhausen settlement at the water gate of the city fortifications. The small fortress was also known as the lower castle , analogous to the upper castle, of which the so-called Hausmannsturm can still be found above Bad Frankenhausen.
At the end of the 14th century, the complex and the settlement came into the possession of the Schwarzburg Counts , who later became the Princely House of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt . The counts first expanded the former castle in the north of their territory into a fortress in order to be able to cope with the corresponding structures of the Counts of Mansfeld - fortress Heldrungen , the Beichlinger counts and the county of Stolberg . In addition to the residence function, the castle was also important for the administration of Frankenhausen and its saltworks .
During the peasant wars of the 16th century, the majority of the Franconian population converted to the rebels and rose up against their authorities. The castle was badly damaged in the process and was rebuilt in the Renaissance style from 1533 to 1536 . Matthias Merian's city view from 1650 shows a magnificent building typical of the time with stepped gables and roof extensions. A large part of the Franconian town development succumbed to the great city fire of 1689, and the castle was also directly affected. Only the east facade retained its renaissance style. However, there was a lack of funds for the necessary repairs, so efforts were made to be economical when repairing the castle.
20th century and present
The building remained in the possession of the princely family until 1918. After Prince Günther Victor's abdication , the castle came into public possession in Thuringia. From 1919 onwards , the castle was used by District Administrator August Reinbrecht and his family as an official residence with an annex. From 1920, District Administrator Reinbrecht set up the local history museum he had founded in the side room and housed the Sondershausen-Frankenhausen district library he had also founded in his previous official residence. The district court later moved into some rooms. During the turmoil of the Second World War , parts of the museum's holdings were relocated. They got lost in the post-war period. In connection with the preparations for the anniversary of the Peasants' War, the palace was extensively renovated from 1973 to 1975.
Today's Kreisheimatmuseum was reopened on September 1, 1953 with a natural history department with a focus on Kyffhäuser and Goldene Aue and, in addition to the city-historical component, also as a memorial for Thomas Müntzer and a peasant war memorial . It is open all year round and offers a variety of exhibitions in addition to the museum. There is a café in the castle and the castle area is accessible to visitors at all times.
Buildings
Apart from the basement and parts of the moat, there are no more traces of the former castle complex. The castle, resting on a high field stone base, is a simple, rectangular building from the Renaissance under a large gable roof . The entire three-story building is whitewashed and has no decorative features. The only decoration on the west side facing the city is a gabled risalit which contains the portal, the rear east facade is only accentuated by three high dormer windows. Around the castle there is a small castle garden, partly surrounded by an ornamental wall.
literature
- Liselotte Pflaumbaum: Contribution to the Franconian town history . In: Kreisheimatmuseum Bad Frankenhausen (Hrsg.): Publications of the Kreisheimatmuseum Bad Frankenhausen . Issue 1. Möbius printing works (Artern), Bad Frankenhausen 1977, p. 50 .
- Hans Patze , Peter Aufgebauer (Ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 9: Thuringia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 313). 2nd, improved and supplemented edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-520-31302-2 , pp. 29-31.
- Thomas Bienert: "Castle and Hausmannsturm" - Medieval castles in Thuringia . Wartberg Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-631-1 , p. 142-143 .
- Michael Köhler: «Hausmannsturm, ...» - Thuringian castles and fortified prehistoric and early historical living spaces . Jenzig-Verlag, Jena 2001, ISBN 3-910141-43-9 , p. 130 .
Web links
- The castle on the homepage of the city of Bad Frankenhausen
- Object collection of the regional museum in the castle Bad Frankenhausen in the project museum-digital
Coordinates: 51 ° 21 ′ 14 ″ N , 11 ° 6 ′ 7 ″ E