Herrenberg Castle

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Merian engraving in the Herrenberg town hall (council chamber), created before the town fire of 1635; on the left the Herrenberg Castle, in the middle the Herrenberg Collegiate Church

The Herrenberg Castle was on the Schlossberg in Herrenberg in today's district of Böblingen in Baden-Württemberg . The first written mention of the former castle comes from the year 1220.

There are still ruins , wall remains and a cellar of the former manor house , which was incorporated into a restaurant in 1957. There are also remains of the western kennel . There is also the Schlossberg tower , which is built on the stump of the former powder tower ; a dungeon has been preserved under the tower. Individual descriptions, six small drawings, cuts and engravings as well as paintings, an imprecise fortress plan and the land map are available.

history

The Herrenberg coat of arms as a painting in the council chamber of the Herrenberg town hall
The city's coat of arms, once attached to the Nufringer Tor, now hangs on the town hall

In Herrenberg, the name probably comes from the description of the route "... at the ditch under my Lord's mountain" , the area around the mountain had been inhabited for a long time. Hunters , Celts and Romans as well as Alemanni have left all kinds of traces. The history of the Count Palatine Castle begins in 1220 with the words in castro nostro Herrenberc , which means Herrenberg in our castle . In this castle, Count Palatine Rudolf II certified an exchange of goods with a monastery on Lake Constance on March 28, 1228.

The Tübingen Count Palatine (Count Palatine Rudolf I and Rudolf II) carried out a power and economic policy measure. The Alemannic foundations Reistingen and Mühlhausen, in the bottom of the Ammer, are relocated to the western slope of Herrenberg in a short time. This place is laid out as a fortified city.

By making good use of the natural conditions, the fortress town of Herrenberg with a mountain castle in a closed wall association was created on the western slope side.

In 1382 the property of the Palatine family was sold to Count Eberhard II of Württemberg . The old court was now in the administration of the Obervogt von Württemberg. Count Ludwig I of Württemberg prescribed it as a widow's residence for his wife Mechthild . However, this was replaced some time later. Mechthild had received her widow's seat in Böbling Castle .

The castle standing on the sandstone cap with the resulting depressions and demolitions repeatedly led to major damage. In 1470 a tower of the castle had to give way due to massive problems.

At the end of the 17th century, the Duke of Württemberg at that time moved into Herrenberg Castle as a hunt for the pig and wolf hunts in Schönbuch . Years later the mountain was too difficult for the master, so he chose his apartment in the bailiwick.

The castle, together with the collegiate church and the deanery, were the only buildings to survive the fire in 1635. In the years after the fire, the castle also no longer served as the official residence of the upper bailiffs, who now carried out their business in the bailiff's office. So there were only the castle guards who moved into the castle.

When an earthquake occurred in 1733, not only did the collegiate church below suffer from the tremor, the castle also sagged by half a meter. The landslide had caused great damage on the market square and in the houses of the residents, which is why the residents lost interest in the now dilapidated property. The princes did not want to carry out any renovation either. The first King of Württemberg, Friedrich I , finally sold the castle for demolition in 1807. Several citizens from the city and the surrounding area were interested. The demolition was remunerated with the value of the stones extracted, plus 135 guilders had to be paid.

In February 1819, the court camera office sold the castle for 100 guilders. At times, Stadtschultheiß Kayser in Stuttgart was the owner of the area, who in the second half of 1837 sold the entire Arenal to Carl Ludwig Ruthardt, the brother of the previous owner. In 1841 oak and linden trees were planted on the cannon hump for the 25th anniversary of King Wilhelm I's reign . The ruins and the entire area were sold to the city of Herrenberg in 1865 for 500 guilders.

In 1880 the broken tower stump was repaired and converted into an observation tower, repaired again in 1896 and a year later a panorama map with a view of the Alb by J. Kleinfelder was mounted on the parapet. In 1912 neo-Gothic gates were built into the castle walls.

In 1945, bombs and artillery fire caused severe damage to the ruins. In 1957, the reconstruction of the western tower was initiated with a large fundraising campaign by the population, which was completed two years later. The Schlosskeller restaurant was also built.

Today's palace complex

lock

The castle itself with its individual buildings in the main area was arranged on a plateau near the Schlossberg summit, almost in the oval of the mountain tongue. Only eight meters of height difference can be determined on the system, which had to be overcome between the threshold of the Zwinger in the west via a relay and a small courtyard at the western tower to the large courtyard. The size of the facility is not special. In the east-west direction, the main castle measures around 64 meters in the connection of the shield and ring wall, in the north-south direction you come to 36 meters. The entire complex with the kennel and bastion measures around 92 meters in an east-west direction and just 44 meters in a north-south direction.

The stones for the construction come from nearby quarries and the timber was obtained from the later city forest.

Schlossberg tower

View from the Schlossberg tower over Herrenberg - including the Herrenberg collegiate church and the old town

In the castle complex, on the stump of the former powder tower, stands the Schlossbergturm observation tower , construction of which began in 1957. From its viewing platform, the gaze falls in particular down to the Herrenberg located on the Schlossberg in the Korngäu (Oberes Gäu) . The view is blocked in western directions by the Heckengäu (Hecken- and Schlehengäu) and in eastern directions by the Schönbuch. The view to the Swabian Alb falls from southeast to south .

Under the tower there is a walled dungeon reaching deep into the mountain.

Castle cellar

Castle cellar

Part of the old castle cellar was prepared for the Schlosskeller restaurant . A restaurant on the edge of Schönbuch is therefore available to cyclists, hikers and walkers. A separate room can be rented for events on the Schlossberg.

literature

Web links

Coordinates: 48 ° 35 '52.1 "  N , 8 ° 52' 25.3"  E