Goldrain Castle

Goldrain Castle
Creation time :	from 1329
Castle type :	Defense lock
Conservation status:	Receive
Standing position :	Count family
Place:	Laces
Geographical location	46 ° 37 '28 "  N , 10 ° 49' 47.5"  E Coordinates: 46 ° 37 '28 "  N , 10 ° 49' 47.5"  E

The Goldrain Castle is located in Gold Rain , a fraction of the municipality of Latsch in South Tyrol . It was last the headquarters of Count Hendl and now functions as an educational center .

It was built from around 1323 as a free-standing residence by the Scheck von Goldrain noble family, which was mentioned in Goldrain (then Coldroun) in 1309 . The exact construction date is not known, but in 1999 the felling date (felling date) of three oak beams on the ground floor was set to the year 1335 or shortly afterwards with the help of scientific research. The start of construction can therefore be expected by around 1350 at the latest. Today, this building is integrated into the overall ensemble as the north wing. How the property came to the Hendl family (originally not from the nobility, the Hendl were respected castle men and administrators of the Fernstein , Ehrenberg and Neustarkenberg castles ) is not known, but there were close family ties to the Scheck family, so that marriage or inheritance was possible is. A Sigmund II Hendl von Goldern is mentioned for the first time in a document in 1474.

description

It is a three-winged building with an inner courtyard, which is surrounded by an almost rectangular wall with round corner towers. The inner courtyard is closed on the eastern side by a wall between the north wing and the south-east wing. The connection between the two wings consists in the east of a kind of bridge with attached arcades, in the west the wing towards the inner courtyard is designed as an arcade. The surrounding walls, which run from north to south, are longer than those from east to west, which means that there is now a lawn in front of the entrance to the south wing, which was originally a baroque garden. The wall is about seven meters high on the south side and slightly lower on the north side, due to the rising terrain. The corner towers are equipped with wall slits. A chapel is built onto the southeast wing from west to east, the narrow side of which is integrated into the curtain wall. In the northeast corner there is a building attached to the wall, the so-called administrator's house, and a restaurant building diagonally opposite. The east wall was broken through and provided with a gate in order to be able to better reach the guest house belonging to the educational center.

construction

North wing

The north wing originally consisted of a rectangular residential building without any extensions with a flat gable roof and two cellar rooms that are connected by a barrel vault . It was 10 meters by 22 meters and was erected to the east over an older building 10 meters by 12 meters. The entrance faces south and is slightly elevated so that it can only be reached by stairs. There are three more floors (including the attic) above the basement. The narrow sides of the building are equipped with crenellated gables . Corbels on the northern side indicate a step on the first and second floors.

Coat of arms of Austria, Hendl and Ramschwang

Around 1528/29, the then owner, Siegmund (III.) Hendl zu Goldrain, had this building enlarged by about four meters to the north and fitted with a toilet tower (today a stair tower) on the northwest corner. Due to the rising terrain, the ground floor of the new building was on the same level as the first floor of the old building. A large, two-storey bay window was added to the east side of the old building , on which the coats of arms of Austria, Hendl and Ramschwang are located in a three-pass made of white marble .

In 1562, Franz Hendl had two bay windows added to the north facade on the upper floor in order to bring more light and living quality into the rooms. Both bay windows are placed on corbels .

Access to this part of the building was via a stair landing on the north side with a marble staircase, which has now disappeared and has been replaced by a metal construction.

After 1562, a small oriel was added to the right south side of the same building.

Southeast wing

After the improvements in the north building had not resulted in a satisfactory solution, Franz Hendl began a little later to have a new wing built south of the existing structure. However, this south-east wing was only part of the south wing, which later ran across the entire front and was to consist of the south-west wing. It was an almost square building that was in front of the existing structure and whose east wall was flush with that of the new building. The eastern gap was closed by a wall, a connection between the two parts of the building was created by a bridge with attached arcades. The building was three stories high, had a hipped roof and had a three-quarter-circle bay window with a conical roof on the south-eastern corner on the second base. The representative living rooms were also located here. A coat of arms on the ceiling, dedicated to the Tyrolean Prince Archduke Ferdinand II , shows the year 1572 and thus probably the end of the construction work.

Southwest wing

After the completion of the eastern part of the south wing, the governor Franz Hendl , who had been in office since 1582, had this part of the palace completed between 1586 and 1589 by building the so-called south-west wing . It connects almost seamlessly to the southeast wing. Due to the slightly higher brickwork of the southwest wing and the associated breaking of the roof line, you can easily see the seam. The passage through a barrel vault to the inner courtyard is also located here. The gate wings with the slip gate in the left wing, originally covered with sheet metal, are still there. Inside the passage, the year 1586 in the reveal of the portal refers to the construction work. In the south-west corner of the wing is the second floor with the knight's hall, equipped with five windows, the largest room of the castle. The inscription can also be found here

“1588 Franntz Hendl zu Goldrain Ritter Für. (Eastern) major. (cheeky) Raht and Landhaubtmann on the Adige ”.

This room has a splendid coffered ceiling, but it did not have a stove and therefore could not be used in winter. Adjacent to this is the so-called ghost room, which is also splendidly furnished and shows various coats of arms of the von Hendl and von Thun (Margarete von Thun, wife of Ulrich Hendl), as well as the dates 1601, 1618 and 1633.

The western wing of the southwest wing bends at a right angle and runs to the north, where it joined the north wing asymmetrically (the southern wing was longer than the north wing, which is why the part that ran to the north protruded to the west). A toilet tower with a pyramid-shaped roof was built in the corner created in this way. The exterior of this tower was modeled on a donjon and gave the castle a more imposing character

Chapel with passage from the south

The castle chapel, which was built onto the south-east wing and now completely closes off the wall space, was also built by the same client. In the upper area of ​​the chapel there is a corridor that leads from the arcades in the inner courtyard directly to the stately gallery . Under this corridor is a breakthrough with a barrel vault at right angles, in which the normal, level access to the chapel is located. The east end of the chapel consists of a bell wall with a baroque round arch and stalls for two bells . With the exception of the neo-Gothic tabernacle , the single-winged altar dates from the early 17th century. A small sacristy is attached to the north wall of the chapel.

Northwest wing

This part of the building is attached to the western part of the southwest wing, encloses the toilet tower and fills the asymmetrical gap to the north wing. It is the youngest and last extension of the castle. The exact date of construction is not known, but is likely to be around 1618.

Curtain wall and towers

View of the castle

At the beginning of the 17th century, Ulrich Freiherr Hendl had an imposing, plastered circular wall built with dimensions of 58 meters by 70 meters and a height of up to seven meters. At each corner of the square there is a round tower with a conical roof. The two southern towers are decorated with sgraffiti bands under the roof approach . The towers have three floors, of which the top floor was used as a dovecote. On the south-east tower and south-west tower (1607) grapes can be seen in a circumferential band under the roof, and on the south-east tower also the year 1606. Even if the corner towers are equipped with wall slits, it was only possible to defend the complex against gangs of robbers. The walls had nothing to oppose a military attack, as they were not defensible due to the lack of battlements. A magnificent marble portal in the south wall serves as the entrance. A double row of diamond blocks forms the pillars, above which an arched cornice made of rustic blocks rises. The baroque triangular gable contains the Austrian shield in a cartouche and an archduke's hat above it.

More buildings

A servants' building was added to the northeast corner of the Mauergevierts, which was increased to two and a half floors in 1913 and lastly housed a school. At an unknown point in time, sheds were built in the south-west corner , which were then expanded into a large barn. Both structures were then dismantled as part of the renovation work.

Ground plan of Goldrain Castle

Further use

In 1863 the family of Count Hendl von Goldrain became extinct. The heir to Hendl's property was the Plawenn family, who sold the building to the Goldrain community for 18,000 fl in the same year  . The latter exchanged the properties with the Catholic Church, from whose ownership the building then passed into the ownership of the municipality of Latsch.

During the fascist Mussolini era, the Podestà sat in the castle, which was completely in ruins at that time, as the furnishings gradually disappeared. During the Second World War it was used, among other things, by the SS as a base in Vinschgau . After the end of the war it was first occupied by Allied troops and then given to returnees as temporary accommodation. The school set up in the servants' house after the First World War was enlarged, a kindergarten and a camp for the volunteer fire brigade were added.

The rising maintenance costs made the owners think about selling them. The monument office was contacted for the first time in 1966 to find out more about the conditions in the event of a sale. Thereafter, a purchase price of 35,000,000 lire was determined, but there was no prospective buyer. On October 16, 1975, the castle was auctioned off in the Latsch community hall. There were two bidders, the highest bidder with 45,000,000 lire was the mayor of Latsch, geometer Josef Rinner. The loser thereupon lodged an appeal (objection) and filed a complaint because of "perception of private interests in official acts". The sale then had to be reversed. Further considerations were then made and the educational house project with a cooperative as the sponsor was also addressed. This promising project then failed due to political squabbles; In the meantime, the State Monuments Office had to have the roofs renovated in 1985 to prevent irreparable damage. In 1987 the cooperative with the goal of "education house" became reality after all. With the support of the Province of South Tyrol, the construction work began immediately and continued despite constant difficulties and lack of money. However, the work was only secured after the state government made another amount of 1.953 billion lire available in 1995.

Renovation works

Temporal sequence

Depending on the financial possibilities, the renovation work was carried out in several steps.

1. First, the south wing was repaired as it was in the best condition. Office space was created on the first floor, the stately rooms on the second floor were restored, sanitary facilities and the restoration of the inner courtyard followed.
2. The former servants' house or school building in the north-east corner of the wall was dismantled below the top of the wall, it was converted into a residential building and has served as a caretaker's house since then.
3. The barn in the south-western corner of the wall was torn down to below the top of the wall and a restaurant was set up in it. This now houses the kitchen and a dining room with 56 seats on the ground floor, and another dining room with 40 seats on the upper floor.
4. The renovation of the north wing could not begin until 1994. First of all, the north wall was drained, a sacristan's room, library rooms were laid out and basement rooms were prepared. Work then continued and completed in 1997.
5. Two towers (south-east and north-west) and the circular wall were renovated from 1999.

The work in detail

Statics

Years of leaks in the roof in general had led to major problems in the load-bearing parts of the beam structures, both the roof truss and the false ceilings. Here the rotten parts had to be replaced. Water had also constantly penetrated the lime paints, which had led to an increase in weight and a disproportionate load on wooden beams, which for this reason sagged dangerously. The heavily sagging coffered ceilings (in the knight's hall with a span of 8.8 meters, the sag in the middle was 20 cm) had to be stabilized. The south wall of the chapel had settled and threatened the stability of the building. The load-bearing beams in the arcade bridge were badly damaged by water.

Interior work

Overpainted and sooty wood paneling was cleaned or, if necessary, supplemented, ornaments exposed, the floors renewed if necessary, closed wall openings such as windows or doors exposed and improper wall openings closed again. All doors that could be saved were restored and the old locks made functional again. Only two of the existing ovens were classified as worth preserving. The cladding was removed and then reinserted in newly bricked-up ovens. Subsequent plaster was removed and the original layers exposed, imperfections repaired and the colors added using the lime paint technique.

Outdoor work

All parts of the arcades, windows and door frames made of Lasa marble have been renovated. The forged iron bars in front of the windows of the north wing were derusted and repainted. The exterior plaster was cleaned extensively, missing areas were supplemented with color-coordinated lime mortar. Drainage work was carried out on all walls in the base area. The crown of the curtain wall was cleaned and protected with a roof tile overlay. All facades were painted with a glazed whitewash.

Innovations

For technical reasons, it was essential to install modern technology. An elevator was installed in the toilet tower of the northwest wing. A modern heating system had become unavoidable; the system of floor-mounted electrical heating was used, which means that no radiators are necessary and the entire system remains invisible.

Others

A whole series of treasures from the castle, such as paintings, crockery and furniture, have disappeared or irretrievably lost; be it that they have been looted or taken by authorized persons and taken elsewhere. Among the inventory items that are still available and in some cases that need to be saved are the tiled stove from the early 16th century in the ghost room or the unfortunately no longer complete tiled stove, which was designed by Bartlmä Dill Riemenschneider (a son of Tilman Riemenschneider ) between 1539 and 1549. This furnace, whose coat of arms Hendl-Ramschwang identifies it as the original property of Count Hendl, was last in the museum of the former episcopal palace in Trento. After lengthy negotiations it was returned to South Tyrol and taken to Goldrain Castle in 1992 by the State Monuments Office in Bolzano.

In the chapel there is still the altar and an original choir stool from 1586.

Remarks

1. ^ A ministerial service team of the noble free von Matsch
2. ↑ at this point already listed as a member of the lower nobility
3. ↑ Whether it was a residential tower is disputed
4. ↑ his second wife was Dorothea von Ramschwang
5. ^ Son of Siegmund Hendl
6. ↑ so as not to unnecessarily occupy the courtyard
7. ↑ this east end was completely integrated into the construction of the circular wall up to the wall crown
8. ↑ the clearly visible, triangular flight openings indicate this
9. ↑ Annenberg Castle, which is similarly built and located above Goldrain Castle, probably served as a model for this type of defense system.
10. ↑ The original gate leaves were replaced by stainless steel constructions
11. ↑ at that time approx. 35,000 DM or 245,000 schillings
12. ↑ 1,953,000 DM or 13,671,000 schillings

literature

• Josef Weingartner : The Art Monuments of South Tyrol, Vol. 2 . 7th edition. Athesia, Bozen 1991, ISBN 88-7014-642-1 .
• Marcello Caminiti: The castles of South Tyrol . 8th edition. Manfrini, Calliano 1996, ISBN 88-7024-376-1 .
• Südtiroler Kulturinstitut & Bildungshaus Schloss Goldrain (Hrsg.): Schloss Goldrain and the Counts Hendl . Tappeiner, Lana 2000, ISBN 978-88-7073-256-6
• Oswald Trapp : Tiroler Burgenbuch. Volume I: Vinschgau . Publishing house Athesia, Bozen 1972, pp. 176-181.

Web links

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

• Goldrain Castle website
• Entry in the monument browser on the website of the South Tyrolean Monuments Office