Hofhegnenberg Castle

General view, Hofhegnenberg Castle

Hofhegnenberg Castle around 1700. Engraving by Michael Wening

The Hofhegnenberg Castle lies on the edge of the Steinsdorfer community part Hofhegnenberg on a hill in the south of the district Aichach-Friedberg ( Schwaben ). The well-preserved aristocratic residence goes back to a high medieval castle, of which the stump of the keep can still be seen .

history

The red marble epitaph of Georg von Hegnenberg-Dux in the castle chapel

High Middle Ages

The Lords of Hegnenberg probably originally came from Upper Swabia . At the end of the 12th century, Engelschalk and Hermann von Hegnenberg appear as Guelph service men in the written sources. The eponymous residence of this ministerial family was the small tower hill castle ( Burgstall Althegnenberg ) on the southern outskirts of the nearby Althegnenberg in what is now the Fürstenfeldbruck district .

Around 1300 the people of Hegnenberg left their ancestral home in the village and built a larger castle on the ridge that was visible from afar, about four kilometers away. In the late High Middle Ages, such a relocation of a ministerial seat to the heights can often be proven. The originally mostly unfree servant families had meanwhile established themselves in the lower nobility and wanted to document this with a representative hilltop castle.

It is possible that the construction of the new castle was started on a ducal order. In 1296 the Bishop of Augsburg had Kaltenberg Castle near Geltendorf destroyed in order to put a stop to the Wittelsbacher's expansion efforts. The Hegnenbergers were then part of the retinue of the new Duke Rudolf . The castle should therefore also be interpreted as a symbol of power and a border fortification against the bishopric of Augsburg .

The first written evidence of the hill fort dates from the year 1354. The knight Winhart von Rohrbach bequeathed in this document of October 24th to the Hochstift Augsburg a. a. Tenth income from nine Juchert Acker "located behind the castle of Haegniberg". The mention of the field name "Roßberg", which is still in use today, in this document proves that the named castle is to be equated with the predecessor of today's castle.

Late Middle Ages

In 1399 Arnold d. Ä. von Hegnenberg the ducal fiefdom with the castle to the Friedberg keeper Hans den Pflaumdorfer. 1800 new Hungarian guilders were agreed as the purchase price. In the deed of purchase, the total amount of the Hofmark is recorded for the first time , which remained unchanged until the 19th century.

In 1405 the Pflaumdorfer gave the rule to Jörg von Ersingen and "Paul den Aersinger" d. J. continue. As early as 1411, "Paul Aeresinger" sold the property back to Duke Wilhelm III.

In 1462 the dukes Johann and Sigismund appointed Heinrich Adelzhauser to be the keeper of Hegnenberg. At that time, the dukes were in constant financial need and also owed the Adelzhauser 1,000 guilders . Until the loan was repaid in full , the keeper of the Hegnenberg estate was left to use.

Early modern age

In 1515 Raphael Sättelin is named as a carer in the "Salbuech des Schloß Hägnenberg". Around 1540 the medieval castle seems to have been very dilapidated.

In 1542 Duke Wilhelm IV enfeoffed his illegitimate son Georg von Hegnenberg with the Hegnenberg Court Mark. Georg, born around 1511, became the progenitor of the von (Hof) Hegnenberg-Dux family, the last male scion of a sideline who died in 1902. The main line went out in 1786 with the baron Georg Ignaz Peter.

Georg, " Knight of the Golden Spur " and Knight of the Burgundian Cross , had to have large parts of the residence renewed. In 1557 the renovation and new building was completed. The high medieval southwest tower, however, continued to tower over the building complex. It was not cut until 1790, when the western entrance to the castle was also changed. The old state is recorded on a copper engraving by Michael Wenings (1701). The high southwest tower (probably the former donjon) then had a high tent roof , the two round towers on the gate building had onion domes.

19th century to the present

The "Dollling branch" of the gentlemen von Hegnenberg was raised to the rank of imperial count in 1790. The rule finally passed to the family of her husband Otto Wilhelm Freiherr von Gebsattel via the daughter of the last count in 1902 . The von Gebsattel family lived in the large palace building to the present day. The property is surrounded by a large English park and is not open to the public.

Since 1988, the old Hofmark Castle has served as the backdrop for the fictional Bernried Castle in Küblach in the Bavarian Forest for the TV series Forsthaus Falkenau . After the majority of the main actors left the series in 2006, including the fictional residents of the castle, it was no longer shown or mentioned in the series. The castle also served as a backdrop in other television series.

At the end of 2008, the last noble lord of the castle sold the facility to the entrepreneur Peter Löw . After the acquisition, Löw renovated and restored the medieval castle. At the beginning of the renovation, the fence around the manor district, which had fallen into disrepair for decades, was replaced. After approval by the preservation authorities and the municipal council, the reconstruction of the southwest tower began and was completed in early 2012.

Hofhegnenberg Palace in 2007 before renovation

Every year at the beginning of December there is a Christmas market - the so-called Kipferlmarkt , so named by Peter Löw - in the courtyard. This was already organized regularly by the previous owner and continued after the takeover by Peter Löw. The proceeds from the croissant market will be donated to charity.

Building description

The castle is located in a park enclosed by old trees on the Roßberg above Steindorf. To the north-east is a large, rectangular farmyard, the buildings of which in their current form date largely from the 19th century.

Northeast view of the castle

Main castle

The extensive four-wing system of the main castle is arranged around a rectangular inner courtyard. The two to three-storey wings are closed off by gable roofs . In the northwest and southeast, two square corner towers tower over the facility. The northeast tower has an octagon with an onion dome, the southeastern neo-Gothic battlements .

The western gateway was also changed in the neo-Gothic style around 1790. A long passage leads into the inner courtyard. A coat of arms stone (1557) is embedded above the gate . The representative gate building on the east side dates from the 18th century and shows simple baroque styles.

The outer walls are only structured by the simple rectangular window openings with shutters. The arched arcades of the east and west courtyard facades are walled up.

The humpback cubes of the presumed keep stump on the southwest corner are reminiscent of the high medieval castle complex . The tower is the most important evidence of high medieval aristocratic culture in the district.

Michael Wening's engraving from 1701 documents an extensive baroque bastion fortification around the castle district. In the area you can still see some earthworks of these jumps and a brick vault.

Palace chapel, Hofhegnenberg Palace

Castle chapel St. Maria

The former pilgrimage chapel of St. Maria is on the ground floor in the south-east corner of the palace area. The square room (side length approx. 10 meters) with its four groin vaults over a central column was created in the 16th century as part of the palace renovation. In 1751 the southern extension was added (Wilgefortis side chapel).

The vault frescos (around 1740) illustrate representations from the history of pilgrimage. One recognizes u. a. a Swedish soldier carrying the miraculous image of St. Maria wants to throw into the fire during the Thirty Years War. The view of the palace in the background is noteworthy, which like the Wening engraving from 1701 shows the west side of the manor.

The miraculous image in the center of the high altar is dated to the second half of the 15th century. The seated Madonna is surrounded by a baroque halo. Eight putti sit on cumulus clouds in the arcade arch. The altar structure dates from 1739. The two side figures of hll. Georg and Nikolaus are works by Bartholomäus Kriechbaum.

The large red marble epitaph of Georg von Hegnenberg-Dux from the former Franciscan church in Munich has been installed in the extension, which is closed on three sides, since the 19th century . The 1589 deceased ancestor of the Counts of Hegnenberg is in confident pose in armor in a Renaissance - shrine .

literature

Franz Etzler: Home to Steinbach and Paar (local history of the municipality of Steindorf). Steindorf 2002
Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments, Bavaria III: Swabia (arranged by: Bruno Bushart , Georg Paula ). Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich and Berlin 1989