Heringen Castle
Heringen Castle is a castle complex in the Thuringian city of Heringen / Helme .
History (short version)
In 1155 the place Heringen, located on the old military road Merseburg-Nordhausen, was first mentioned in a document from the Fulda monastery . In 1172 a knight family von Heringen is mentioned, who probably built the moated castle south of the Helme. It was used to secure the river crossing. The Counts of Hohnstein bought this castle from the Counts of Beichlingen around 1260-1300 . Count Dietrich IV had a castle and city wall with defensive towers and a residential tower with keep , chapel and farmyard built in 1318-27 . The town received its town charter in 1327, when Heringen was mentioned in the Walkenried document book.
In 1406 and 1407 the city and castle were unsuccessfully besieged by an imperial army. When Count Dietrich IX. von Hohnstein (Hohnstein-Kelbra-Heringen line) died in 1417, parts of the city fell to the Counts of Schwarzburg and the Counts of Stolberg . From 1539 the Schwarzburgers are sole masters by pledging the Stolberg share. After the town fire of 1590, the castle was given the character of a castle that is still preserved. Around 1730 the castle was expanded to include a baroque "mansion" built on the side, probably on older foundation walls. As a result of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the domain and Heringen Castle became royal Prussian property.
Timetable
- 1322 Start of construction of the central castle complex by the Counts of Hohnstein
- 1327 Completion of construction work on the castle complex, city wall and defense towers
- 16th century extensive repair and reconstruction works for Renaissance castle
- From 1597 to 1658 it served Clara von Schwarzburg as a widow's residence
- The countess died in 1658, after which the castle was more and more forgotten
- 1721 last visit to the court by Prince Friedrich Anton von Schwarzburg
- 1819 Transfer through purchase to royal Prussian ownership
- Nationalized in 1945 through land reform and used by LPG as storage and for keeping poultry
- 1960s: demolition plans
- 1980 The castle was placed under monument protection
- 1984 Start of repairs
- 1990 Security work on the ruinous castle
- 2003 Beginning of extensive, external and internal renovation , until 2014 ten million euros were used for this
- In 2015, the restored castle houses the city library, a museum, a doll collection, historical doctor's offices and special exhibitions
Report from contemporary witnesses
Herring comes from the name Heringa, mentioned in the 9th century. In 1155 a swamp was exchanged for goods in Werthern. In 1231 a witness Conrad from Heringen is mentioned. Heringen was first owned by the Counts of Beichlingen. Count Friedrich IV., Founder of the Beichlingen-Rothenburg line and burgrave of Kyffhausen, sold herring to Count Heinrich III around 1300. from Hohnstein. After 1330 Heinrich IV. And his cousin Dietrich IV. Shared their hereditary lands and so the latter became the founder of the Hohnstein-Heringen line. The same fortified the village of Heringen and made it a city.
On the south side the dilapidated double wall, the inner wall surrounded the city and joined the castle. The outer wall had three-quarters projecting round towers, 10 meters outer diameter, the inner one had round inwardly open shells. The first construction of the castle falls at this time. The wall and castle withstood the sieges in the 17th century.
From 1412 to 1417 the town and office of Heringen were sold to the joint property of Schwarzburg and Stolberg. In 1432 and 1439 Dietrich IX's nephews sold. von Hohnstein-Heringen, Heinrich Reuss von Gera and Gottschalk von Plesse, their shares in Heringen also to Schwarzburg and Stolberg, which have now been enfeoffed in full with City and Office Heringen. In the 16th century, Stolberg pledged his share of herrings to Schwarzburg. Prussia redeemed the same in 1819 and returned it to Stolberg-Stolberg in exchange for the deposit of the pawnbooks.
There is the old castle and the new castle, the substructure of which is certainly as old as the old castle, only one floor lower than the old one after the great fire of 1729 with a renaissance facade. From 1578 to 1658 it was the widow's seat of Countess Clara von Schwarzburg, born Duchess of Braunschweig-Lüneburg.
The ground floor is mostly vaulted in a cross, a spiral staircase leads through all floors. All four floors had floors of plasterboard and beamed ceilings. The first and third floors each contain a single large hall with ceiling beams and studs painted black. The gypsum fields of the ceiling are bordered with black lines, completely in the taste of the early 17th century (drawings from 1612 in Nuremberg of the Teutonic Order House).
The second floor contains the former state hall (the Hobedörnze as one would have said in the 15th century) distinguished by painted beams, posed beams decorated with an annual cut and stands in the form of Doric columns according to the order of the Wignola on high pedestals. On the east wall one notices the pillars of a 2.4 meter wide chamber and on the walls the traces of red in red sounded paintings.
museum
The castle can be visited. Exhibitions take place in the castle, and a museum is gradually being supplemented with very old documents, pictures and furniture. The interior of the upper floors is currently under construction so that the valuable pieces can be presented after completion. Originals of oil paintings by previous residents and valuable documents have already been made available.
literature
- Hermann Hiller : History of the city of Heringen on the helmets . Reprint of the edition from 1927. Regionale-Verlag, Auleben bei Nordhausen 2005, ISBN 3-934780-13-X .
- Erika Heussinger: From unpublished writings of my ancestors on family history . Early 20th century, from archive owned by Gerhard Hund.
Web links
Evidence and Notes
- ↑ Hans and Doris Maresch: Thüringens Schlösser und Burgen , Husum-Verlag 2008, ISBN 978-3-89876-351-6 , p. 118
- ↑ Michael Köhler: Thuringian castles and fortified prehistoric and prehistoric living spaces Jenzig-Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-910141-43-9 , p. 136
- ↑ Evi Baumeister: Awakened from the deep slumber . Thuringian newspaper, February 21, 2015
- ↑ From the writings of my mother-in-law Erika Heussinger, created in 1882 on the basis of contemporary witnesses who were her ancestors and who lived in the castle.
- ↑ The office consisted of the villages Görsbach, Auleben, Hamma, Uthleben, Hayn, Steinbrücken, Sundhausen, Bielen, Leimbach and Windehausen.
- ↑ The opening times are on the website of the Interest Group Schloss Heringen 1327 eV
- To the office in Heringen / Helme in 1820 belonged the communities Auleben , Bielen , Görsbach , Hamma , Hayn , Steinbrücken, Sundhausen, Uthleben and Windehausen . See the dedication for councilor and bailiff Wilhelm Ludwig Oberländer (1760–1823) on the resignation of his office on December 1, 1820.
Coordinates: 51 ° 26 '53.1 " N , 10 ° 52' 36.6" E