Harff Castle
Harff Castle was a moated castle on the Erft in the Bedburg district of Morken-Harff , which had emerged from a medieval moated castle through renovations and extensions up to the 19th century . To lock included a 15 hectare large English landscape garden as well as a comprehensive 67 hectares zoo.
history
Johann von Harff had a fortified building erected in 1348, which he gave to Count Gotthard von Loen, Herr zu Heinsberg, as a fief and open house for 400 shield guilders . The rule of Harff, which emerged from this and a subsequent fief with the Heinsberger Hof in Harff, was considered a Jülich lien until the French era . In 1384 the castle chapel of St. Caecilia was built on the access avenue of the castle . The importance of the castle was shaped by the political positions of its owners and their reputation.
Harff Castle was, among other things, the seat of Arnold von Harff , who became known through the records of his pilgrimage from 1496 to 1498 to Jerusalem , Santiago de Compostela and Rome .
Until 1670 the castle was inherited from father to son in a straight line. In 1675 Johann Wilhelm Mirbach became the new owner by marrying Johann Damian von Harff's sister, Maria Barbara. With the death of Johann Wilhelm Graf von Mirbach in 1849 as the last of this line, the second son of his sister, Richard von Vorst-Gudenau (Drachenfels), inherited the castle. He was given the name of the Counts of Mirbach-Harff by royal resolution.
The castle was blown up in 1972 because of the approaching brown coal open-cast mine in Frimmersdorf . In its place today a memorial stone and an information board remind of the building.
investment
The building had a base about 2.30 meters thick. It received a Gothic main tower in the middle of the 14th century , which was raised several times and had up to eight floors. The building complex was probably originally in two parts and separated from each other by moats .
The construction work carried out in the 17th century gave the building the appearance of a romantic palace complex.
The building was rebuilt and expanded until the 19th century, giving it the appearance of a pentagonal island in the middle of a ditch surrounding it. During the construction work in 1824 it received a new tower and in 1847 its own library building.
In 1886 the palace was extensively renovated according to plans by the architect August Carl Lange and an opening to the park was created by demolishing part of the outer bailey.
literature
- Paul Clemen (Hrsg.): The art monuments of the Rhine province . Volume 4, Dept. 3. L. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1899, pp. 74-83.
- Georg Dehio : Handbook of the German art monuments . North Rhine-Westphalia. Volume 1: Rhineland . Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich 1967, pp. 273–274.
- Frank Kretzschmar: Bedburg, Harff Castle . In: Erftkreis cultural region. Loss of a monument landscape . 1st edition. Rhineland, Cologne 1991, ISBN 3-7927-1228-8 , pp. 30-33 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Harff Rhein.-Province. District of Cologne, district of Bergheim . In: Alexander Duncker (Hrsg.): The rural residences, castles and residences of the knightly landowners in the Prussian monarchy together with the royal family, house fideicommiss and casket goods ... Volume 7 . Berlin ( zlb.de [PDF; 271 kB ] 1864/65).
- ^ A b F. Kretschmar: Bedburg, Schloss Harff. P. 31.
- ↑ Markus Clemens: A pilgrim and Rhenish knight . In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger . March 6, 2009 ( koelner-stadtanzeiger.de - information on the exhibition about the knight Arnold von Harff).
- ^ A b F. Kretschmar: Bedburg, Schloss Harff. P. 30.
- ↑ Markus Clemens: Memory of Harff. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. December 7, 2007 ( ksta.de ).
Coordinates: 51 ° 1 ′ 32.5 ″ N , 6 ° 32 ′ 40.8 ″ E