Gelsdorf Castle

Gelsdorf Castle, aerial view (2015)

Gelsdorf Castle, mansion

Gelsdorf Castle is a smaller manor in the Gelsdorf district of the Grafschaft municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate . The castle, with its simple brick facades and natural stone decor and the consistent geometry, is a remarkable rarity of late baroque architecture.

history

The Gelsdorf moated castle was first mentioned in 1220 as the ancestral seat of the Lords of Gelsdorf. Members of this family are listed as feudal men of the Archbishopric of Cologne in the 13th and 14th centuries . Later in the second half of the 14th century it is found under the possessions of Johann von Saffenburg , whose inheritance falls to the Count of Virneburg . In 1554, his inheritance fell to Count Dietrich von Manderscheid . In 1716 Baron Lothar Friedrich von Hundheim was enfeoffed with the castle. After the sale to Johann Bernhard von Hallberg (son of the Palatinate court chancellor Jakob Tillmann von Hallberg ) in 1734, another followed in 1763 to Constantin von Gruben (1712–1788, father of the later Bishop Karl Klemens von Gruben ). In 1766 he built today's three-wing moated castle based on the French model, consisting of a manor house , outer bailey with servants' house , stables, coach houses and moats on the site of the castle from the second half of the 13th century. From the old castle there are vaults and a Romanesque column on the garden level. A stone marked in 1763 with the alliance coat of arms of Gruben and Vogelius (maiden name of the wife) is embedded above the passage of the new outer bailey.

Constantin von Gruben's son, Franz von Gruben , and his two sisters Maria Anna and Ernestine von Gruben, pledged the property on January 30, 1821 and Baron von Geyr acquired it at a foreclosure auction for a capital of 13,700 thalers . In 1840 the property was parceled out. The manor house was shared by the community and the church as a school and a rectory, and the outer bailey was used for agriculture. In the mid-1960s there were efforts to demolish the building, which was then owned by the municipality, but was not implemented through the purchase of a private investor. On July 19, 1979, the mansion burned out completely for unknown reasons. After the ruin was sold to a new owner, the entire complex was rebuilt and restored at great expense (1982–93). The castle and large parts of the outer bailey are now used as rental property, primarily for families. The facility cannot be visited.

Web links

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

• Homepage Gelsdorf Castle

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Heraldry website for Schloss Gelsdorf
2. ^ Gelsdorf history in the 19th and 20th centuries, by Ottmar Prothmann (Heimatjahrbuch 1986) and Siggi Meissner, Gelsdorf in February 2004, In: grafschaft-gelsdorf.de

Coordinates: 50 ° 35 ′ 10 ″  N , 7 ° 2 ′ 0 ″  E