Heilgersdorf Castle

Heilgersdorf Castle

The Heilgersdorf Castle is tucked away on the edge of Seßlacher local part Heilgersdorf in Coburg in Upper Franconia . The former aristocratic residence was misused as a forester's house, school and refugee camp in the 19th and 20th centuries, but has been able to retain its representative baroque style to this day.

history

View from Schlossplatz

The main portal

Lichtenstein-Veltheim marriage coat of arms above the main portal

The right side portal

Heilgersdorf has been owned by the Stein von Lichtenstein gentlemen since the 14th century , whose ancestral castle rises on a nearby ridge ( Lichtenstein Castle ). The first castle (mentioned in 1361) have been lay in the middle of a lake and is built on wooden piles rammed into. During the Peasants' War (1525), the rebels plundered the fortress , which was then repaired. Another destruction took place during the Thirty Years' War , this damage could also be repaired. In 1687 there is talk of an "adl Hauß, as the front Kemmeten is called", which is said to have been "well built". However, this castle had to give way to the new baroque building a little later.

The castle was commissioned from 1717 by Adam Heinrich Gottlob von Lichtenstein as a widow's seat for his mother Florina Margareta von Veltheim , the wife of Heinrich von Lichtenstein, who died in 1693. However, it never moved there.

The castle was only inhabited by the Lords of Lichtenstein for about 90 years . The year 1796 brought the billeting of 50 French prisoners of war, one year later a forestry office was set up in the castle rooms. Later the plant changed hands several times and finally came into the possession of the municipality. In the course of the regional reform, the village - which used to belong to the district of Ebern ( Lower Franconia ) - came to the district of Coburg and has since been part of the nearby town of Seßlach.

As invoices and a dendrochronological determination of the age of the roof structure for the built-in spruce in 2012 show, the castle was built between 1717 and 1718. The interior construction lasted until 1720. The design is often attributed to the Würzburg master builder Joseph Greising . The master builder was probably the Seßlacher Hans Georg Salb, the carpenter from Heilgsdorf's Hans Engelhardt and the windows and portals were made by the Eyrichshofer sculptor Johann Christoph Hemmer.

Building description

The courtyard of the two-storey building opens to the west towards the palace square. The small inner courtyard is closed off by a three-arched loggia with a baluster parapet. Behind it the portal projection of the central building jumps out of the line of the wall. The volute gable of the portal flanked by pilasters is decorated with the Lichtenstein-Veltheim marriage coat of arms . The side wings have their own entrances in the central axes.

The restrained architectural structure consists of continuous cornices, corner pilasters and profiled window frames that were painted in an ocher tone. The wall surfaces in between are plastered white. The entire complex has tiled mansard roofs , the portal projection is closed off by a triangular gable. A mansard roof forms the upper end of the building, an absolute rarity in Franconia in terms of architectural history .

Inside, nothing of the former equipment has been preserved. The room layout has also changed significantly due to the numerous conversions. As the owner, the municipality has neither a concept, a use nor the finances for the charming Franconian high baroque building.

literature

• Fritz Mahnke: Palaces and castles in the vicinity of the Franconian Crown. Tape. 1st 3rd edition. Druck- und Verlagsanstalt Neue Presse GmbH, Coburg 1974, pp. 134-136.
• Hans Karlinger : District Office Ebern (= The art monuments of the Kingdom of Bavaria. From the eleventh to the end of the eighteenth century. 3: The art monuments of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg. H. 15). Oldenbourg, Munich 1916, (Unchanged reprint. Ibid 1983, ISBN 3-486-50469-X ).

Web links

Commons : Schloss Heilgersdorf  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Bettina Knauth: New facts about Heilgersdorfer Schloss In: Coburger Tageblatt , July 20, 2013
2. ↑ infranken.de

Coordinates: 50 ° 9 ′ 52 ″  N , 10 ° 49 ′ 48.5 ″  E