Friedrichstein Castle (East Prussia)

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The largest castle in East Prussia in 1927. It was burned down in 1945 by the Red Army

Friedrichstein Castle was a castle in the Königsberg-Land district (1939-1946 Samland district ), in the Pregeltal , 20 kilometers east of Königsberg in East Prussia, today Kamenka in Gurjewsk Rajon ( Neuhausen district ), Kaliningrad region ( Königsberg area (Prussia) , Russia) .

history

Friedrichstein Palace around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

Up until September 2, 1666, the zu Waldburg family lived in Friedrichstein. Friedrich zu Waldburg had a noble house built and the place was called Friedrichstein . After the death of Freiherr zu Waldburg in 1625 and continued management by his widow Maria von Waldburg, née von Kreutzen, until her death in 1642, the economic situation of the property was not good. Friedrichstein had to be sold. At that time the estate was around 450 hectares in size.

On September 2, 1666, the Great Elector gave his consent to the purchase of the property by Friedrich Graf von Dönhoff (1639–1696), Chamberlain of the Elector and Lieutenant Colonel. From 1666 to 1945 the castle and entails (1859-1919) were owned by the Counts of Dönhoff , who held the church patronage over the Löwenhagen church (East Prussia) until 1945 .

In the winter of 1709 a conflagration destroyed the manor house at that time. The new building was built under Otto Magnus Graf von Dönhoff 1709 to 1714 according to plans by the baroque architect Jean de Bodt and under the supervision of John von Collas .

The size and quality of the building corresponded to the wishes of King Friedrich I. The Kingdom of Prussia , which was newly founded in 1701, was to be provided with some magnificent baroque castles for reasons of cultural representation, so the castles Dönhoffstädt (Counts Dönhoff), Finckenstein ( Count Finck von Finckenstein), Schlobitten and Schlodien (Count Dohna) and Capustigall (Count Waldburg), of which only Dönhoffstädt still exists today.

The castle had 19 axes, a two-storey central wing, side elevations on the courtyard and garden side as well as central elevations, a high basement and a mansard roof . The courtyard side was raised by a portico in an Ionic order , on the garden side was an analog external loggia. This side was aligned to a long pond (Russian: Prud), probably an old Pregelteich .

In Friedrichstein, there was a valuable series of tapestries made in Brussels around 1630 with depictions of the life of Alexander the great , based on designs by Jacob Jordaens .

The Kant monument by Christian Daniel Rauch in Königsberg was brought to the Friedrichstein Park in 1944, then buried. It has since been lost. The monument in Königsberg since 1992 is a replica.

The castle was set on fire by the Red Army in January 1945 . Most of the remaining ruins were removed in 1957. Remnants of the wall were still standing until the 1980s, and some fragments can still be seen today. There is a café here today.

Friedrichstein Palace is the birthplace of the journalist and publicist Marion Countess Dönhoff (1909–2002). Her brother Dietrich Graf von Dönhoff († 1991 on Gut Schwebda in Hesse ) was the last owner of the estate from 1942 until they fled; she herself last lived with her brother Christoph in Quittainen .

Significant parts of the original equipment as well as the family archive were evacuated to the west before 1945 and are now partially located at Schönstein Castle in Wissen (Sieg) .

literature

  • Marion Countess Dönhoff: Establishment and management of a large East German company. The Friedrichstein estates from the time of the order to the liberation of the peasants. Inaugural dissertation to obtain the title of doctor of political science in the philological-historical department of the philosophical faculty of the University of Basel, Basel 1935 (Königsberg 1936). In addition, the reviews by Robert Stein in: Mitteilungen des Verein für die Geschichte von Ost- und Westpreußen, Vol. 11, No. 3, Königsberg 1937, pp. 45–47; ibid, vol. 12, no. 2, Königsberg 1937, pp. 31–33 and the author's reply, ibid., vol. 12, no. 1, Königsberg 1937, pp. 7-10.
  • Kilian Heck / Christian Thielemann (eds.): Friedrichstein. The castle of the Counts of Dönhoff in East Prussia . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich and Berlin 2006 and 2019, ISBN 978-3-422-07361-6

Web links

Commons : Schloss Friedrichstein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Notes and evidence

  1. ↑ He was the architect u. a. of the Zeughaus in Berlin .
  2. ^ As already in Dönhoffstädt (Rastenburg district, today Polish: Drogosze) and Schlodien (Prussian Holland district, today Polish: Gładysze)

Coordinates: 54 ° 39 ′  N , 20 ° 44 ′  E