Groß Holstein Castle

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Arnold Nering: Holstein Castle (1830)

The former Groß Holstein Castle is located in the west of Kaliningrad in the Zentralrajon administrative district on the right bank of the Pregel just before its confluence with the Fresh Lagoon . It owes its name to Friedrich Wilhelm II of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck .

history

Building 2014, south side
State 2014, north side

Between 1693 and 1697, Elector Friedrich III. Build three hunting castles in East Prussia according to the designs of the architect Johann Arnold Nehring from the Electorate of Brandenburg - the castles Friedrichshoff, Friedrichsberg and Friedrichswalde. Friedrichshoff, built in 1693 by Georg H. Kranichfeld, quickly gained recognition as the most important baroque building in the province. However, the elector did not particularly like the castle, despite the beautiful view over the park to the river. In any case, it was only occasionally used by the court for elk hunting in the Kaporn Heath . His successor Friedrich Wilhelm I then left the palace completely empty for a long time until he gave it to his cousin and later Field Marshal Prince Friedrich Wilhelm II of Holstein-Beck in 1719 as a thank you for his services in the siege of Stralsund .

Friedrich Wilhelm von Holstein-Beck extended the palace building to its current, H-shaped floor plan and gave it (along with the attached estate and village) the name Holstein . He did not live in the house either, not even from 1741 when he was transferred to Königsberg , where he died on November 11, 1749 after a long illness.

After his death, his widow Ursula Anna, b. von Dohna-Schlobitten held the property until it fell to their daughter Sophie Charlotte of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck in 1761. But Friedrich Wilhelm's heirs only occasionally used the baroque palace as a summer residence. So it was finally sold and was to change hands more frequently in the years that followed.

The next owner was Franz von Below, who acquired the castle in 1793 (or 1795) for 76,000 thalers from the heirs of Friedrich Wilhelm II. However, he did not keep it for long and sold it in 1798 to the General Landschaftsrat Friedrich Wilhelm Karl von der Trenck, who probably had further changes made. In 1812 the Jewish merchant David Meyer Friedländer bought the castle for 70,000 thalers, and in 1817 left it to banker Wolff Mendel Oppenheim (1753–1828) and his son-in-law Marcus Warschauer . In 1835, Oberamtmann Ferdinand Adolf Gottfried Magnus bought the estate and castle.

In 1852 the third East Prussian Singing Festival took place on Groß Holstein , as the property was now called (cf. choral societies ).

In 1930 the estate was given to Dr. Kurt Munier leased the property after the owner Anna Magnus died. On April 9, 1945 the property was captured by Soviet troops and later expropriated. Kurt Munier, General Secretary of the Central Agricultural Association in Königsberg, died on December 24, 1946 in Königsberg, his wife was expelled in May 1947.

In contrast to many other culturally and historically valuable buildings in the area, the castle has been preserved to this day, albeit with walled-up or altered arched windows, missing facade decorations, removed staircase and renewed roof. From the outward appearance (2009) it was recently renovated, whereby a few structural changes to the facade in the central wing were reversed. Today's user is probably the Engineering Geological Baltic Sea Expedition.

Surroundings

The Moditten forester's lodge also belonged to the castle , located north of the Moditter Bach, which was connected to Groß Holstein Castle by an avenue. To the west of the castle, Fort VII with the name "Duke of Holstein" was built at the end of the 19th century, part of the fortification belt around Königsberg. It is still used militarily today (2018).

literature

  • Wulf D. Wagner : Stations on a coronation journey - castles and manor houses in East Prussia , catalog for the exhibition, Berlin 2001

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lorenz Grimoni: Königsberg districts, settlements, goods and forts along the Ringchaussee. Königsberger Bürgerbrief, Winter 2011, p. 14
  2. ↑ Wulf D. Wagner "Stations on a Coronation Journey"
  3. ^ Schloss Groß Holstein , on Ostpreußen.net, accessed July 9, 2015
  4. ^ The Ostpreußenblatt (February 22, 2003)

Coordinates: 54 ° 41 ′ 35.6 ″  N , 20 ° 23 ′ 42 ″  E