Haldenstein Castle

Schloss Haldenstein, from the Castle Lichtenstein seen from

Main building, Haldenstein Castle in the background

in the garden

eastern corner tower

The Haldenstein Castle is a castle with burgartigem character in the village of Haldenstein in the Swiss canton of Grisons .

investment

The spacious building is bordered in the east by a terrace wall similar to a bering . There are two wall towers at the two garden corners, and two stair towers border the north and south wings. Essentially, the facility consists of four three-story building sections grouped into a square. In the courtyard there is a fountain from the 1890s. Two short wings protrude from the south wing to the east and west.

The splendor inside can only be guessed at. The chronicler Baron Rudolf von Salis reports that “ninety rooms were counted, furnished to the most beautiful taste, galleries worked out with gold and adorned with the most vivid colors, which represent hunts and landscapes and everything that pleases the eye ”.

On the ground floor there are still vaulted rooms and some Gothic window frames. The vaulted hall in the southern extension with a large fireplace from 1545 is one of the oldest parts of the complex. A marbled door frame on the first floor of the south wing dates from the same year and the magnificent inlays on the door could also date from the 16th century.

The greatest treasure of the palace is probably the state room on the first floor of the south wing. The panel with the stove was sold to the German Industrial Museum (later the Museum of Applied Arts in Berlin ) in 1884 . Today the panel can be viewed in Köpenick Castle in Berlin. Nevertheless, the room in the German Renaissance style is still one of the most valuable of its kind in Graubünden. Some art objects such as a circular disk from 1587 with the coat of arms of the Schauenstein and family pictures of the von Salis are now in the Rhaetian Museum in Chur.

history

The history of the castle has its origins in Haldenstein Castle above the village. The Haldenstein lordship, to which the neighboring Lichtenstein Castle also belonged, had been an independent territory since about 1300, subordinate to the Bishop of Chur and independent of the Three Leagues , which existed until 1803. In 1509 the owner of the castle and lord of Rhäzüns , Conradin von Marmels, was one of the most powerful feudal lords of Raetia in the late Middle Ages.

Through the marriage of the widow of his late son Jakob von Marmels, Haldenstein came to the Milanese nobleman Jean Jacques de Castion, the French ambassador to the Three Leagues in Chur. The new owner was probably not quite able to cope with Haldenstein's wild romanticism and had a new castle built in the village from 1544–48 instead of an older stone house. Haldenstein shows the transition from castle to palace like nowhere else in Graubünden: the representative building without defensive character had largely lost its defensive character and looked more like a mansion or palace.

In 1545 the shell was completed; It took another three years until the splendid interior was finished. Even after the death of the builder of Castion in 1553, the French embassy remained in the castle until 1622, with some interruptions. 1608 came into possession of the castle through an inheritance from his wife Thomas von Ehrenfels- Schauenstein, five years later he also acquired the rule from Franz Carli von Hohenbalken. This made the Schauensteins one of the richest families in Graubünden. In 1656 the two brothers Thomas and Julius Otto von Schauenstein divided the property by drawing lots: the dividing line went through the longitudinal axis of the castle and Thomas received the valley side, Julius Otto the mountain side.

Julius' line went bankrupt around 1700. In 1703, the heiress of the Thomas line brought the half belonging to her into the possession of the von Salis family . In 1729 Gubert von Salis was able to reunite the two halves. In 1731 he put on a floor and lavishly expanded the interior. Haldenstein was largely destroyed by fire on June 27, 1732, but the facility was restored a year later. From this construction phase, a ceiling with stucco work remains on the second floor of the north wing. After Gubert's death in 1737, the southern half of the palace went to his brother Thomas, Gubert's daughter Barbara Cleophea sold her northern half in 1763 to Professors Martin Planta and Johann Peter Nesemann, who ran the Grisons seminar there with up to a hundred students at times opened in the Saluzisches Haus for two years. In 1771 the seminar was moved to Marschlins Castle near Igis. In addition to other renovations, the theater hall was decorated in 1775.

Haldenstein Castle 1880

In 1780 Major Rudolf von Salis acquired both halves of the castle, later the castle came to the Salis-Haldenstein von Maienfeld and in 1832 to the Salis-Soglio, who had it rebuilt around 1900. In 1922 it came into the possession of Churer Leonhard Batänjer, whose heirs sold it to a foundation in 1966. 1986–1999 it was restored. After the Second World War , Ulrich Christoffel and his wife lived at Haldenstein Castle for a while.

Today it houses the Haldenstein municipal administration, the Graubünden archaeological service and a café. Cultural events take place regularly in the courtyard, in the castle and in the castle garden. The main event is the Haldenstein Castle Opera, which has been a guest under the open sky in the inner courtyard every two years since 2001. The rooms can be rented from the foundation for the events. Haldenstein Castle is included in the inventory of art and cultural-historical protected objects of national importance.

Grisons tangled coins

Haldensteiner coin

In 1612 Thomas von Schauenstein received the right to mint coins from Emperor Mathias , which he did extensively. However, since his coins were of poor quality, there were angry reactions from Zurich and southern Germany. The Graubünden authorities also made several representations, albeit with little success. Because the imperial minting right was granted to Schauenstein, the von Salis also made use of it. The mint was located in the castle itself. The silver for the earlier coins came from the company's own mines in Schams and the Rheinwald .

In 1718, Rudolf von Schauenstein-Reichenau invoked the old imperial law, which led to unsightly disputes between those of Salis and von Schauenstein, until the three leagues finally forbade the production of coins. Just two years later, Gubert von Haldenstein received the right to mint again on the condition that he used an alloy that complied with the regulations. Because he did not comply, his right was withdrawn after a year.

After the fire of 1731, Gubert received the right to one-time minting of 5000 guilders as compensation . However, Gubert minted 25,000 guilders, whereupon he was snarled into a fine of 5000 guilders. It is not known whether and with what coins he paid for it. In 1766 his brother received the imperial coin privilege, which he hardly ever made use of. The last Haldenstein coin dates from 1766.

literature

• Fritz Hauswirth: Castles and Palaces in Switzerland, Volume 8, Neptun Verlag Kreuzlingen, 1972
• Otto P. Clavedetscher / Werner Meyer : The castle book of Graubünden . Zurich / Schwäbisch Hall, 1984
• Georg Lütscher: History of the Freiherrschaft and municipality Haldenstein . Revised and supplemented by Silvio Margadant. Haldenstein 1995
• Terra Grischuna, issue 2/2007

Web links

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

• Castle world: Neu-Haldenstein Castle

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Schlossoper Haldenstein ( Memento of the original dated February 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Haldenstein Castle at www.graubündenkultur.ch

Coordinates: 46 ° 52 ′ 42 "  N , 9 ° 31 ′ 37"  E ; CH1903:  759 171  /  194030