Herzogsfreude Castle
Herzogsfreude Castle was a hunting lodge in the Röttgen district of Bonn .
history
Herzogsfreude Castle is one of the many baroque buildings commissioned by Cologne Elector Clemens August I of Bavaria . The castle was built by Clemens August between 1753 and 1755. Located in the forest area of the Kottenforst , it should serve as a hunting lodge for the par force hunts so loved by the Elector . Before that, around 1727, the Kottenforst was systematically surveyed for the first time in order to create avenues for par force hunting. These mostly wide avenues were piled up dead straight and ditches were provided on both sides because of the wet subsoil.
The castle , which was very impressive in terms of its dimensions - the main building alone, without the side wings, was 70 meters long with 19 window axes - and from which straight avenues opened out in a star shape in all directions, was completed and partly furnished, but died the builder Clemens August 1761 and no longer visited his castle. His electoral successors did not enter it either. The consequences of the French Revolution , which led to the French occupation of the entire Rhineland on the left bank of the Rhine , ensured that there was no longer any opportunity for electoral par force hunts. In 1794, the last reigning Elector of Cöllen, b. Maximilian Franz of Austria , fleeing from the invading French troops. In 1803, in accordance with the nameless Reich Law, which gave the so-called Reichsdeputationshauptschluss final legal force, all the principal bishoprics of the Holy Roman Empire were dissolved.
The owner of the vacant palace Herzogsfreude became the French state, which auctioned it publicly in June 1804. "Les restes du château des Roetgen" were acquired - as the official sales record noted - from the Bonn roofer Peter Lander for 3550 francs. From this the castle was demolished in the next few years. Bricks, stones, floor coverings, the copper roofing and other building materials were sold. A large part of the stones was used for the expansion of the Wesel Citadel . In 1810 the castle had almost completely disappeared.
The castellan of the castle was the electoral forest master Franz Stephan Ostler (1716–1782).
Remains and souvenirs
Today there are no more ruins or remains to be seen. Only the network of trails through the Kottenforst that was laid out for par force hunting , the hunting lodge that was built with the castle , which is now used by the forest administration, and the St. Venantius Chapel on Reichsstrasse , which was also built by Clemens August I, have been preserved remained.
In today's Röttgen, therefore, not much is reminiscent of Herzogsfreude Castle. In addition to the street names “Schlossplatz”, “Kurfürstenplatz” and “Herzogsfreudenweg”, the remains of the former electoral palace can only be found in parts of the former cellar vault , which can now be found under some private houses. In addition, parts of the castle are said to have been used in the construction of the forester's house in Röttgen.
Since 1984 there has been a small monument on the Schlossplatz in Röttgen, which reminds of the former Herzogsfreude Castle in the form of a bronze model.
Other castle buildings by Clemens August I.
In addition to the Herzogsfreude Castle, Clemens August I had the new construction of the Poppelsdorf Castle completed (1715–1740) as well as the Augustusburg and Falkenlust castles in Brühl (1723–1746) as hunting and summer castles , the Clemenswerth Castle in Sögel in Emsland (1737–1747) and build the only partially realized Liebenburg Castle near Goslar (1754–1760). In addition, he had the master builder Michael Leveilly from Bonn, according to plans by François de Cuvilliés the Elder, expand the Electoral Palace to include the Koblenz Gate in the period 1751–1757 . The hunting lodge Entenfang in Wesseling is probably wrongly attributed to him.
literature
- Barbara Hausmanns: The Herzogsfreude hunting lodge in Bonn-Röttgen (1753–1761). A monograph on the construction of the last palace built by Elector Clemens August of Cologne . Bouvier, Ed. Röhrscheid, Bonn 1989, ISBN 3-7928-0599-5 . (= Publications of the Bonn City Archives, No. 45)
- Volker Plagemann: The hunting castles of Elector Clemens August - Falkenlust - Clemenswerth - Herzogsfreude , Hamburg 1969
- Carsten Polanz : Herzogfreude - a castle that has never been used. In: Bonner General-Anzeiger from 10./11. April 2004
- Barbara Hausmanns: In search of a lost castle. In: Bonner General-Anzeiger from 11./12. September 2004
- Werner D'hein: Kottenforst. 13 hikes through a historical cultural landscape . Gaasterland-Verlag, Düsseldorf 2008, ISBN 978-3-935873-21-5
- Wilfried Hansmann, Gisbert Knopp : Clemens August the last Wittelsbacher as elector and builder on the Rhine, Munich 1986
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Werner Hesse: History of the city of Bonn during French rule, 1792-1815. Bonn 1879, p. 236. Retrieved March 14, 2016 .
Coordinates: 50 ° 40 ′ 45 ″ N , 7 ° 4 ′ 7 ″ E