Harmsdorf Castle
Harmsdorf Castle was a castle in Graz Jakomini . Its history goes back to the 14th or 15th century. The former two-story castle with a tower was bombed in 1944. Only a few remains of the walls of the old castle have been preserved in the cellar. The castle has been owned by the city of Graz since the 20th century and established a children's home here.
description
In 1684 the estate encompassed next to the castle a Meier shaft , a large backyard garden and some fields and meadows. In the years around 1737 the castle was expanded and a glass house was built, in which 203 orange and lemon trees, so-called “Welsche Paumern”, stood. The glass house and the trees were worth around 420 guilders.
The castle once stood in Harmsdorf or Hademarsdorf, which was still listed in the Graz address book as a separate administration and control unit in 1867. In 1849, after a survey of the citizens, which was unanimous, it was merged with the city of Graz.
history
The estate, including the village of Harmsdorf on it, was probably owned by the Traungau family in the 12th century . In the period from 1165 to 1185 an Otto von Hadmarsdorf is mentioned in a document, who was an owner of Duke Ottokar IV . Otto von Hadmarsdorf bequeathed the estate to the Lords of Graz, who passed it on to the Ehrenfelsers who were related to them . In the 14th century the estate was a fiefdom of the Ehrenfels family. In 1361 the village was designated as one of the cornerstones of the Graz keep. In 1409 a court was given to Otto von Graben and a second to the Herberstein family . It is unclear from which of these two courtyards the castle arose; but it is assumed that it was the Herbersteiner feudal court.
At the beginning of the 15th century this fiefdom was owned by Ullein den Herbersteiner, who passed it on to his nephew Andree von Akspekch. On August 10, 1415, he sold the farm to the brothers Andree and Jörg von Herberstein. In 1480 the "Edelhoff zu Harmsdorff" was owned by Andrä Span, who connected it to the Moserhof-Schlössl . The farm was probably destroyed at the end of the 15th century. The castle was built in its place. Andrä Span's children and stepchildren owned the property in 1521. The property was presumably released from the later owner Wolfgang Vogl.
From the second half of the 16th century to 1610 there were several changes of ownership. In 1610 the "Freyhof zu Harmsdorf" was sold to Erhard Wilhelm von Klaffenau, who wanted to create a seat and rule here for his family and therefore bought many properties in the vicinity. When he died in 1644, his son Sigmund took over the property, as the other heirs waived the property in exchange for a settlement. When Sigmund died in 1684, the castle and its goods were valued at 2,500 guilders . Sigmund's son Karl Sigmund Josef von Klaffenau sold the estate in 1716 for 13,200 guilders to Johann Carl Freiherrn von Teuffenbach. His sister-in-law Maria Rosalia sold the estate in 1737 for 9,000 guilders to Hanibal von Großhaimb. In 1739 the Großhaimb estate was sold to Franz Samuel Ebner von Ebenau, who was heavily in debt.
In 1774 the estate went to Johann Ernst Graf von Herberstein for 8,050 guilders. In the following period up to 1870 the castle changed hands frequently. In 1808, it was estimated that the castle could also be used as a summer residence due to its proximity to the city. This promised annual income of around 300 guilders, which was roughly the annual salary of a middle-class civil servant. In 1870 the castle became the property of Baron Weis von Teufenstein. It lost its castle character as early as the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, the castle belonged to the Association for the Promotion of Public Health before it passed into the possession of the City of Graz. This set up a children's home in the castle. Towards the end of the Second World War, it was completely destroyed by bombs in 1944.
literature
- Robert Baravalle: Castles and palaces of Styria . Leykam, Graz 1995, ISBN 3-7011-7323-0 , p. 17-19 (first edition: 1961).
- Karl A. Kubinzky, Astrid M. Wentner: Grazer street names. Origin and meaning . Leykam, Graz 1996, ISBN 3-7011-7336-2 , pp. 162-163 .