Hildburghausen Castle
The Hildburghausen Castle in the same town in Thuringia was until 1826, the residence of the Dukes of Saxony-Hildburghausen . The castle was destroyed by artillery fire in April 1945 and demolished in the late 1940s.
investment
The castle was located on the southwestern edge of the city center on the former site of a moated castle . Modeled on the Versailles Palace , it was built as a horseshoe-shaped, three-story building. The baroque complex consisted of a central main building with two side wings adjoining at right angles, which enclosed a large forecourt, the courtyard of honor . The castle was equipped with three main halls and several audience rooms, which were provided with stucco work on the walls and ceiling in the Rococo style and some were painted. The facade of the plastered solid building was through rectangular windows, simple stone walls, rusticated structuresmarked on the building corners and a hipped gable roof . The courtyard side of the central wing was divided by two portals, flanked by Doric pilasters and closed at the top by triangular gables with figurative sculpture. The garden side with its 22 window axes was designed asymmetrically by two window axes framed with pilasters on both sides and without gables.
History of the castle
_Vignette.jpg)
The foundation stone for the castle was laid on May 27, 1685 by Duke Ernst von Sachsen-Hildburghausen in the presence of his court. The city had previously given the duke land to build the palace and park. Elias Gedeler was commissioned with the construction, and he had the city wall that had been completely removed until then. After Gedeler's death (1693) on July 24, 1695, the building of the palace was completed and occupied by Johann Schnabel .
Originally a more playful version of the castle was planned, but the castle construction had cost so much money in the meantime that five and then fourteen extra taxes had to be levied for the financing. The more unadorned nine-axis west wing was only two-story and only completed in 1707. In addition to the royal stables , the court marshal's office and coach house, this also housed the castle church of the Holy Spirit with the princely crypt, which was inaugurated on August 30, 1705.
The largest hall of the castle was on the third floor and was used as a redoubt and theater hall. Later the ducal library and a natural history cabinet were housed there. The castle suffered multiple damage from lightning strikes. In May 1783 the library and castle church were devastated and five horses were killed in the stables. In 1803 parts of the interior of the palace were renewed on the occasion of the visit of the Prussian royal couple.
After the court moved in 1826, the castle initially served as an apartment for some officials. The castle church was converted into a courtroom in 1847, and after partial demolition and a corresponding renovation, the castle was used as barracks of the 2nd Battalion of the 6th Thuringian Infantry Regiment No. 95 from 1867 .
The castle was set on fire by American artillery on April 7, 1945 and almost completely destroyed. Only a facade and part of the stairwell were left. 1947–1950 the castle was torn down.
Castle Park
_Residenzschloss_und_Park.jpg)
The construction of the palace gardens began as early as 1700 and was completed by Duke Ernst Friedrich I , who wanted to imitate the Versailles court. The garden was lavishly furnished with grottos, springs, pavilions, sculptures, natural theater and mazes and in 1720, with water from the Werra flowing next to it, was framed by a canal. The costs for this were largely met from the sale of his mother's marriage property , the county of Cuylenburg , to the Netherlands.
The costs of maintaining the garden were immense, and one of the first official acts of the imperial administration of the duchy was the conversion of the garden into an English landscape park from 1792-1806, in the form of which it still exists today. The center of the park is the Luis monument from 1811, which Duchess Charlotte von Sachsen-Hildburghausen had erected in memory of her sister . In 1867 the park was used as a parade ground by the military and returned to the city in 1890 and opened to the public. Between 1990 and 1993, the three bridges over which the park is accessible were renovated.
literature
- Rudolf Armin Human: Chronicle of the city of Hildburghausen . Hildburghausen 1886.
- Heinrich Ferdinand Schoeppl: The dukes of Saxony-Altenburg. Bozen 1917, reprint Altenburg 1992.
Web links
- Entry on Hildburghausen Castle in the private database "Alle Burgen".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Köhler: Thuringian castles and fortified prehistoric and early historical living spaces. Jenzig-Verlag, 2001, ISBN 3-910141-43-9 , p. 195.
Coordinates: 50 ° 25 ′ 28 ″ N , 10 ° 43 ′ 30 ″ E