Freudenstein Castle (Saxony)
The Freudenstein Castle is located on the Palace Square on the edge of downtown Freiberg in Saxony . Its history is closely linked to the house of the Wettins . After several renovations, the castle now consists of these buildings as a four-wing complex: Long House , New House , Church Wing , Big Tower and Narrow House .
history
After the silver was found in Christiansdorf , Margrave Otto von Meißen had a castle built in 1168 to protect silver mining . On July 31, 1312 the castle was first referred to in a source as "Hus". Described in later documents with the names "arx", "Castrum", "flos" and "Burg". Freiberg Castle was only referred to as "Freudenstein" in 1525. From 1505 Duke Heinrich the Pious resided mostly in Freiberg. During his reign, his sons, the later Electors of Saxony Moritz and August , were born in the castle.
The new construction of the palace began in 1566 under the supervision of Rochus zu Lynar by master builder Hans Irmisch . The completion in the architectural style of the Renaissance was finished in 1577. During the Thirty Years' War it was part of the defense system of the city of Freiberg and was used at times as a military base. In 1762 the interior of the castle was completely ruined as a result of the Seven Years' War .
When the military treasury took over possession in 1784, the second major conversion of the castle into a warehouse began . This was a major intervention in the building structure. The Renaissance windows were replaced by small-format storage windows. Inside, low storage floors were installed in a simple construction. From 1800 the partial conversion to a mountain magazine was continued. During the Napoleonic occupation (1813) the castle was used as a hospital for 1,500 wounded. It served as a granary until 1979 . In 1973 a youth club was opened in the basement . From 1980 to 1990 the monument preservation company was housed in the castle . Recalling the structural condition of 1577, the facade of the New House was reconstructed under his direction in the Renaissance style. In 2004 the castle became the property of the city of Freiberg again. Between 2005 and 2008 it was rebuilt as a result of a Europe-wide competition under the direction of AFF architects Berlin / Chemnitz. The church wing was gutted in order to accommodate the mountain archive in a sculptural structure. The exhibition “ terra mineralia ” was housed in the adjacent Long House .
Traces of building history
The stump of a round tower on the southeast side in the middle in front of the Long House is evidence of the Romanesque construction phases. The upper edge of this is approximately 30–40 cm below the current courtyard level and is marked on the pavement next to the old castle floor plan.
Remains of the Gothic castle have been preserved in the form of the two large cellar barrels under the Long House and the church wing. In some areas of the north-west facade of the Long House there are testimonies of window frames in an exposed plastered field.
A large part of the rising masonry of the building's outer walls, the staircase of the Long House , which was documented as the first straight staircase in Saxony, the staircases on the gatehouse and the spiral stones on the round tower and a few natural stone frames of windows and doors, bear witness to the design during the Renaissance .
use
The structure of Freudenstein Castle has been adapted and changed several times to meet user requirements specific to the time. The Romanesque round tower clearly bears the traits of defensive strength. This also applies to the Gothic castle, but the residential character is clearly pronounced here. The margravial mint was probably built here before 1244 . At times the castle served as the residence of the Saxon electors. The renaissance castle was built for representation purposes. It was used to accommodate guests, celebrations were held in the halls, and the elector went on hunting trips into the Tharandt forest from here . Permanent living was the exception. The castle was important for the Saxon court as a stopover on the ride from Dresden to Augustusburg and as the starting point for the funerals in Freiberg Cathedral .
After the Thirty Years' War , apart from demolishing the building, the idea of converting it to a granary was investigated and implemented. This use was continued until 1979. The first approaches to cultural uses began in 1973. Part of the cellar vault was converted into a youth club . Further plans included the conversion into a cultural center. The gradual structural implementation began in 1982. As the first section, a restaurant "Schlosskeller" was opened in the Long House . Construction work and other conversions were stopped in 1989.
The Saxon State Government agreed on 16 December 2003 on a new lock concept, which provided for the use as an exhibition and archive building.
Since October 20, 2008, the permanent exhibition “terra mineralia” in the Long House has presented a private Swiss mineral collection. This world's largest private collection consists of around 80,000 mineral levels, mostly cabinet pieces , some of which are presented on an exhibition area of around 1,500 m². It was made available in 2004 as a permanent loan from the Pohl-Ströher Mineral Foundation of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, established by Erika Pohl-Ströher . In addition to the exhibition, adventure and information areas are intended to introduce the world of minerals.
Another user of the castle has been the Freiberg mountain archive of the Saxon State Archives as a special archive for Saxony for the mining sector since May 2008 . It preserves archival material on the mining history of Saxony and Germany since the 15th century and stores around 4,600 m of files and 106,000 cards. The archive has a presentation foyer in which a permanent exhibition is shown.
literature
- Heinrich Douffet , Uwe Richter, Ulrich Thiel: Freudenstein Castle in Freiberg. The development of the city of Freiberg and the layout of the castle . In: Sächsische Heimatblätter . Vol. 54, No. 2, 2008, ISSN 0486-8234 , pp. 172-184
- Heinrich Douffet, Uwe Richter: On the completion of Freudenstein Castle in Freiberg in 2008. in: Erzgebirgsverein e. V. (Ed.): Yearbook for the Ore Mountains 2008. Marienberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-931770-71-6 , pp. 6-8
- Gerhard Heide, Christel-Maria Höppner, Steffen Jahn, Andreas Massanek, Uwe Richter: Highlights from the world of minerals. The Pohl-Ströher mineral collection at Freudenstein Castle / Freiberg . TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 2008, ISBN 978-3-86012-347-8
- Christian Weise, Ed .: Freiberg, Minerals, Mining & Museums , extraLapis No. 36, Munich, 2009, ISSN 0945-8492
Web links
- Site of the castle with numerous illustrations
- Website of "terra mineralia" with information about the exhibition from October 23, 2008
Individual evidence
- ↑ Renaming of the Schloßplatz to "Herzog-Heinrich-Platz" withdrawn ( memento of August 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Free Press of October 23, 2008: The magical world of minerals shortly before the opening - Terra Mineralia: What keeps the world hidden inside
Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 13.6 ″ N , 13 ° 20 ′ 23.9 ″ E