Horst Castle

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Preserved entrance wing of Horst Castle with north corner tower
View of the castle from the southwest; on the right the modern glass hall

The Horst Castle is a castle in the area of the Gelsenkirchen district Horst and is considered one of the oldest and most important Renaissance buildings in Westphalia. At the time of its construction in the 16th century, it was one of the largest four-winged castle complexes north of the Alps and shaped the architectural style of the Lipperenaissance , which is also known as the "Horster Bauschule". It is since 15 December 1983 listed .

On an island in the swampy area between two Emscher arms already existed in the 11th century farmstead, whose residents may the catch of the Emscherbruch -based Emscherbrücher Dick Koeppe pursued. From it grew a fortress that fell a fire twice victimized. After the second fire, the then owner Rütger von der Horst decided to build a completely new building, which was completed in 1578. Due to the particularly high quality of its architectural sculptures, this Renaissance building is of supraregional importance for art history .

In the 19th century, large parts of the castle collapsed or had to be laid down because of dilapidation. The owner at the time, the von Fürstenberg family , tried to save as much as possible of the valuable facade decoration and the high-quality building plastic, the so-called “stone treasure” , and stored the fragments. The few remains of the building that were not demolished gradually fell into disrepair. In 1985 a citizens' initiative was founded to prevent the final ruin and to implement a new long-term use of the facility. At her instigation, the city of Gelsenkirchen bought the castle and initiated extensive historical and archaeological investigations. Horst Castle is now one of the best-researched Renaissance buildings in north-west Germany. After restoration and partial reconstruction, it is used as a museum, restaurant, registry office and event location.

history

Residents and owners

The client Rütger von der Horst hired well-known artists and craftsmen of his time to build his new castle; Portrait by an unknown artist from around 1553

The knight family of the Lords of Horst can be traced back to the 12th century. It came from the area of ​​today's city of Essen . From around 1200 members of the family held the marshal's office of the Essen monastery , which was also connected with the supervision of the wilderness in the Emscherbruch and the right to catch the Emscherbruch horses. Probably for this reason the Knights von der Horst had three horse brakes , called Pramen, in their coat of arms. From 1363 they are named in documents as feudal men of the Counts of Kleve and were able to assert themselves and the independence of their property for a long time against the claims to power of the neighboring Cologne Archdiocese . However, since they had assumed jurisdiction over the parishes of Gladbeck and Buer , which belonged to the territory of the Electorate of Cologne, the Archbishop of Cologne, Friedrich von Saar Werden , initiated a lawsuit against the Horster Ritter in 1410/11, as a result of which the family submitted to the archbishopric in 1412 had to. Rütger von der Horst took the oath of allegiance to the Archbishop of Cologne, which resulted in the integration of the formerly independent rule in the archbishop's Vest Recklinghausen . In return, he received the rule back as an Electoral Cologne fiefdom . With Horst's annexation to Cologne territory, the efforts of the Counts von der Mark and Count von Berg to acquire Horst Castle or at least to secure the right to open it , which were documented for at least 1315 and 1349 , finally failed.

The special social position of the Horster gentlemen at that time is documented by a chance find from the 19th century. In June 1854, in the course of excavation work in the area of ​​the filled moat, a late Romanesque non-ferrous metal basin richly decorated with engravings was found. The so-called Hanseatic bowl was probably a hand washbasin. On the inside it contains a program of images with tapes showing Philosophia , surrounded by Socrates , Plato and the seven liberal arts. The bowl is not only an eloquent testimony to the courtly ceremony at Horst, but also of the level of education guests and hosts had.

The owner of the castle, also with the name Rütger , came into the sole possession of the "Hues zor Horst" on May 21, 1547 by dividing the inheritance. He held the office of marshal under six Cologne electors ; Archbishop Salentin von Isenburg appointed him shortly before his abdication as governor of Cologne in Vest Recklinghausen. That Rütger had a magnificent new building built on the site of the old castle, but died four years after the completion of the construction work in 1578. Since his only son Johann from his marriage to Anna von Palandt had died early, Rütger's heir, Margarethe, brought the complex 1582 through her marriage to the family von Loë zu Palsterkamp und Geist. The new lord of the castle, Betram von Loë, also died without leaving a male heir. Sibylla, one of his two daughters, inherited the castle and glory Horst and brought this property as a dowry to her marriage to Dietrich von der Recke in 1607 .

On June 9, 1706, his descendant, Baron Hermann Dietrich von der Recke, sold Schloss und Herrlichkeit Horst for around 100,000  Reichstaler to Baron Ferdinand von Fürstenberg . Hermann Dietrich's nephew objected to the sale and therefore went to the Reich Chamber of Commerce . The trial wasn't over until 1802. The Fürstenberg family had to pay the Count von Westerholt-Gysenberg , to whom the claims had meanwhile been transferred, 76,000 thalers compensation. The von Fürstenbergs never used the complex as permanent residence, but preferred to live in one of the many other castles in the family, such as Herdringen Castle , Schellenberg Castle or Adolfsburg Castle . In 1730 Christian von Fürstenberg finally dissolved the Horster household. In the period that followed, the outer bailey was leased for agricultural purposes and the castle was administered by a rent master .

From the 1920s the facility was used as a people's recreation center. The gastronomy set up in the basement at the time was followed by a discotheque in the 1970s. At the beginning of 1985, a citizens' initiative was founded, which campaigned for the preservation and a new use of the historical building fabric. Among other things, it was planned to set up a training center, a hotel or a dance sports center in Horst Castle. In 1988 the city of Gelsenkirchen acquired the castle ruins for DM 650,000  and had them partially rebuilt.

Building history

Previous buildings

Excavations on the castle grounds have shown that a yard existed at the site of the Horster outer bailey in the 11th and 12th centuries. This consisted of a six to seven meter wide and eleven to twelve meter long frame house with two rooms, which can be detected by traces of posts and swell beacons. The construction and equipment of the house, such as the remains of tiled stoves and finds from the former inventory - including broken blue glass with white threads - indicate that the residents of the house were not simple farmers, but rather a higher class. In the late 12th century, this farmstead was - probably at the instigation of the Essen pen - under Gerhard von der Horst to a wooden attachment in the form of a moth expanded to the limits of the pen territory to secure and the pen hearing to protect farms. The mound of earth artificially heaped up for this moth had a diameter of about 40 meters and a height of almost two meters. At that time, the castle consisted of a main building, a polygonal tower with a diameter of 6 to 6.5 meters and two other wooden outbuildings, which were surrounded by a parapet and battlement at the foot of the hill . A moat in front of it was protected by another palisade . Even at that time, a bailey was part of the Horster complex, which was located west of the main bailey and was connected to it by a bridge.

Not long after it was built, this wooden hilltop castle was destroyed by fire. The fire disaster may have occurred in the turmoil that followed the assassination of Cologne Archbishop Engelbert von Berg in 1225. Gerhard von der Horst then replaced the remains of the wood / earth attachment with a stone, 11 × 7.5 meter solid house or a residential tower with 1.2 meter thick walls and had the building surrounded by a circular wall. The castle hill had previously been raised by at least 1.5 meters.

Haus Horst was first mentioned as a castle in 1282, when the Roman-German King Rudolf von Habsburg allowed the knight Arnold von Horst for his loyal service, which in addition to his "castrum horst" (castrum = castle ; also in old documents hoirst, hurst and hoerst written) to further fortify the freedom that was surrounded by a moat and at the same time granted this settlement city ​​rights . Nothing today bears witness to this former freedom; it disappeared in the course of industrialization in construction and transport projects. It was roughly where Horster Burgstrasse runs today.

A chaplain for Horst was mentioned for the first time in a document from 1295, which means that there was a castle chapel . Excavations in the outer bailey revealed that this chapel already existed in the century before, as the excavators uncovered the 1.5 meter thick foundations of a chapel, the origins of which date back to the 12th century. The first Horster castle chapel was a hall building measuring around 13 × 15 meters with an apsidial closed choir . The clear width of the nave was 6.6 × 4.2 meters. A document from 1411 is called the patronage of Saint Hippolytus . The choice of the patron saint illustrates the connection between the Lords of Horst and the horse industry, because catching and trading horses were their main source of income for a long time. Under the choir there was a crypt-like substructure with four graves. It can be assumed that the buried were members of the lord's family. The chapel was rebuilt in the late Middle Ages . It was given a vault and its choir was replaced by a larger polygonal structure. In addition, extensions were added on the northeast side. Presumably in 1590 the Horster chapel was elevated to a parish church . It existed in the outer bailey until 1753, before it was replaced by today's Church of St. Hippolyt .

Just like the castle chapel, the castle was gradually expanded. Perhaps in the 15th century, but at the latest in the first half of the 16th century, additions and additions made of brick were added within the curtain wall. In addition to the residential tower with a sewer system, which was expanded to 19 × 11 meters, excavations revealed a two-storey brick building (16 × 10 meters), a round tower and a few other buildings in the gate area of the complex. In order to create the space required for this, some of these buildings were erected on post gratings in the area of ​​the castle moat. The roofs of the buildings were covered with clay and slate shingles. The condition of the castle in the 16th century probably documented a relief from sandstone , which was walled up earlier in the right side of the restaurant entrance.

Renaissance new building

Reconstruction of the castle during the Renaissance

After Rütger von der Horst had become the new castle owner, he described the complex in 1549 as desolate and of bad appearance (“Item so ych myne behusynge gans woste und ungestalt yn myner bestetnyß gehadt” - “I have also completely neglected my dwelling and run down in mine Taken possession "). He had construction work carried out until 1553, although it has not yet been clear whether this was only a matter of necessary repairs or at the same time also extensions and modifications. When Horst Castle was destroyed again by a fire in the spring of 1554, Rütger did not have it rebuilt, but instead had the remains of his father's castle put down. He commissioned the construction of a moated castle , which should meet the high living and representational demands of the vestish governor. Initial start-up funding for the costly construction project consisted of the inheritance of his mother-in-law, Elisabeth von Palandt, who died in October 1554. From 1571, Rütger paid for the later costs of the elaborate and valuable interior fittings of his castle from the income from his extremely profitable participation in a West Frisian salt and peat company.

The progress of the work and those involved in this new building are documented in the so-called construction diaries of Rütger von der Horst. These are two account books and a bundle of 47 building contracts in Low German , which cover the period from 1554 to 1567. From 1558 at the latest, the leading builder was the Arnhem town builder Arnt Johannsen to Boecop. The client had met him in Arnhem, where he had worked for a distant relative of Rütger, the Geldrischen military leader Maarten van Rossum . According to Johannsen's plans, a closed four-wing complex was to be built, at the corners of which there were slightly protruding, square corner towers with Welschen hoods that were unusual for the time . Three of the four sides were to be occupied by two or three-story wings, while a low, one-story wing was planned on the fourth side in order to keep the courtyard sufficiently bright. Ultimately, however, only a three-storey entrance wing in the northwest and an adjacent residential wing with two storeys and a hipped roof to the northeast were built . The planned multi-storey south-east wing ultimately only turned into a three-axis risalit , the splendidly designed volute gable of which was decorated with fittings and based on Flemish models.

Renaissance courtyard facade of the palace, drawing by Gustav Greiß

The north-west wing, begun in 1558, was completed in 1559 , including a courtyard-facing gallery , with a year on the courtyard facade. Work on the residential wing began as early as 1554 and lasted until 1563. In that year, the shell was finished. The design of its facade began in 1564, and the wing received its roof that same year. Disagreements between the client and Arnt Johannsen meant that Rütger von der Horst increasingly involved other craftsmen in the planning of his castle and the Arnhemer finally left the construction site in 1567. Laurenz von Brachum , who came from Wesel and started working as a stone cutter on the Horster construction site on September 23, 1558, had taken over part of his duties since 1563/64 . He was responsible for the final design of the courtyard facades and the magnificent gable on the northeast wing. Other works by Brachums were the design of Haus Geist , Haus Assen and Schloss Hovestadt . Brachum was supported by Heinrich Vernukken, who came from Kalkar , and his son Wilhelm , when he was working on the sculptural decoration of the palace, which was strongly influenced by the Dutch Mannerism style . They were not only responsible for the figurative decorations, coats of arms and inscriptions, but were also commissioned to design the interior. Wilhelm Vernukken also took part in work on the facade design. The bay window on the street side of the entrance wing was made by him. The art-historical term of the Lippe Renaissance goes back to the lavish design of the three-dimensional decorations and friezes with innumerable detailed, never-repeating ornaments and reliefs. Horst's ornate building sculpture and ornamentation has been known as the “Stone Treasure” since the 1920s.

In 1567 the exterior of the first two palace wings was finished. Earlier publications stated that the other, younger wings of the building had a different appearance because they were built under the direction of the French Joist de la Cour. However, the construction diaries do not give any clues to this assumption, because according to the contemporary files, de la Cour had only been entrusted with painting work since 1563. The interiors had an elaborate color design. During restoration work, remains of figurative and ornamental paintings were discovered in several rooms, and a large history painting on canvas is guaranteed for the knight's hall . By 1570 the other two wings of the complex had also been completed. Work on the interior of the palace lasted until 1573.

In the course of the new building, Rütger von der Horst also planned the redesign of the outer bailey area, but this failed due to the resistance of the church.

Modern times to the present

Horst Castle on an oil painting by Adolf Höninghaus from 1842; However, it does not represent the state of construction at that time, because the picture shows the western tower, which collapsed twelve years earlier, as still intact.
Horst Castle in 1850 shortly after the collapse of the magnificent gable on the east tower, drawing by Gustav Greiß
The bay window in the entrance wing by Wilhelm Vernukken

There were early signs of deterioration in the building structure, which was primarily due to the statically unsuitable building site in the former grounds of the predecessor complex and the inadequate foundation of the palace. After purchasing the facility, the Barons von Fürstenberg had extensive repair and renovation work carried out between 1706 and 1721 ; a large part of it because of acute risk of collapse. In 1711/12, for example, the courtyard facade of the mansion wing was partly demolished and rebuilt. Further work included, among other things, the repair of the foundation in 1716 and the partial demolition and reconstruction of the upper part of the northern corner tower in 1721. But despite all their efforts, the owners could not prevent the gradual deterioration of the facility. In 1828 the gate building was closed. The Essen architect Heinrich Johann Freyse was entrusted with repairs to the dilapidated castle in 1828/29 and was to rebuild it at the same time in the then common taste of the time. Freyse planned to redesign the palace into a three-wing complex in the classicism style. His plans also called for the complete removal of the Renaissance façade decoration, but the project was never implemented. Shortly before 1830, the west tower collapsed and tore part of the northwest wing with it. The wing was then shortened by removing the entire gate passage. The remains of the tower were then probably completely removed in the course of the work. In the spring of 1833 the north tower collapsed and was then lowered down to the basement. On Christmas Eve 1843, the south tower collapsed. Around this time, the two low castle wings on the south-east and south-west side were also torn down. Before 1850, the Vernukken bay window on the entrance front lost its original gable when dovecotes were to be housed in the top floor of the wing and all window openings on the floor were closed for this purpose. During the demolition work, the Fürstenberg family was always careful to save the valuable architectural jewelry that was still there, and so most of it was carefully kept and stored in a specially built shed until 1925. Building research owes 23 of the few pictorial representations of the palace, the so-called Potsdam leaves , to the fact that King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia was thinking of buying Horster house jewelry in the middle of the 19th century . They come from the pen of the Frankfurt architectural draftsman Karl Gustav Greiß , who was commissioned to take stock. Because the negotiations between 1848 and 1851 about the sale of the facade decorations were unsuccessful, the “Stone Treasure” stayed in Horst.

By order of the Prussian regional council in Münster , the eastern tower with its walls up to 2.2 meters thick and the adjoining residential wing had to be demolished in 1853/54. The agriculturally used outer bailey was also partially abandoned in the 19th century, so that ultimately only the entrance wing and the approach of the former residential wing together with the foundations of the associated corner tower remained. These parts of Schloss Horst were redesigned from 1924 to 1930 into a popular recreation center. For this purpose, the basement of the mansion wing, which was backfilled in the 19th century to secure the existing building, was exposed again and a restaurant set up in the vaulted cellars according to plans by the architect Paul Sültenfuß . In addition to further renovations inside, this also included the construction of an extension in the corner of the two still preserved castle wings. The former castle kitchen in the entrance wing served as a small museum in which the “Stone Treasure” was exhibited. At the same time, the palace park was transformed into a landscape garden in the English style and was opened to the public. During the redesign work, the large house pond had been changed into a geometrical moat that surrounded the castle on three sides. Today it is only recognizable as a depression in the lawn.

The restaurant was followed by a discotheque in 1976, but none of the users contributed to the preservation of the historical building fabric. The consequence was their increasing decline. As early as 1962 to 1967, restorations were carried out on the street facade of the entrance wing for the first time with the support of the state curator . Almost all of the sculptural jewelry made from Baumberger sandstone was replaced by reconstructions made from the less sensitive Wrexen sandstone. Few of the originals were still so well preserved that they were not replaced, but renewed. However, the work was only able to counteract the further decline of the facility to a minor extent. In 1984 the facade of the entrance wing on the courtyard side was conserved in order to stop its considerable stone decay.

At the instigation of the "Förderverein Schloss Horst", founded in 1985, the city of Gelsenkirchen bought the facility with financial support from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia in 1988 to save it from final ruin. Initially, she planned to merge all three Gelsenkirchen registry offices in the castle, and planned a complete redesign of the interior in order to accommodate many municipal offices, as well as a new staircase and an elevator in the entrance wing. However, these plans were not implemented. Initially, from spring 1990 onwards , systematic excavations were carried out on the castle grounds and in the area of ​​the outer bailey under the leadership of the Westphalian Museum of Archeology, the authority for soil conservation of the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe . Not only did they unearth numerous excavation finds, they also brought new knowledge about the building history of the facility. The excavators found the traces of construction of the previous facility and a sophisticated supply and disposal system, consisting of a cistern , well and numerous, sometimes multi-section sewer shafts and chutes. In 1992, at the suggestion of the Friends' Association, an architecture competition was announced, according to the winning design of which the Frankfurt architect Jochem Jourdan restored the castle from 1994 to 1999 and partially rebuilt it using existing historical building elements. In the course of the construction work financially supported by the North Rhine-Westphalian state government, around 25 million DM, additions and extensions from the 20th century were removed again.

Todays use

Horst Castle today serves as the cultural center and registry office of the city of Gelsenkirchen. In addition, the Gelsenkirchen-West district administration has been based there since 1995. The bay room is used by the local debt counseling service , among others . A restaurant is located in the basement of the castle, while the restored fireplace room in the entrance wing, which has served as the castle kitchen since the 17th century, is now used as a wedding hall. The covered inner courtyard of the facility can be rented for events and serves as a place for temporary exhibitions. The permanent exhibition of the castle museum is housed in the corridors, on the basement of the south tower and on the reconstructed upper floor of the mansion wing. In addition to parts of the facade decoration rescued by the Barons von Fürstenberg, it shows pieces of the sculptural decoration of portals and chimneys as well as the excavation finds made in the castle area. Together with other exhibits, the exhibition documents life and work in the Renaissance era, with a particular focus on the operation of the large construction site for the Horster castle construction. Once a month Horst Castle and its museum can be visited as part of a free public tour.

The outer bailey building from 1856 has been used as a community center and district library since 2013 after four years of renovation and renovation work. There is also a small printing museum there.

description

Floor plan of the castle as it was in around 1850; laid down masonry is hatched

The castle at the time of the Renaissance

Horst was a four-wing system with a side length of about 53 meters. Its four corners were marked by square pavilion towers that protruded slightly from the wall. The north-western entrance wing with an elaborately designed portal had three floors. The so-called mansion wing adjoining it had only two floors, but was just as high as the entrance wing. Although a third large castle wing was planned, this was no longer implemented, so that the other two sides of the complex were formed by low, single-storey tracts. The south-east of them was a walkway with a slate roof, open to the courtyard, while the palace chapel was in the south-west wing. Brick and sandstone, which came from the tree mountains, were used as building materials . The red brick was used for the masonry , while the door and window frames as well as friezes and cornices were made of light colored stone . In contrast to the current state, Horst Castle was completely plastered white after its construction . In contrast were the mostly gilded house stone elements as well as the black painted cornices and garments in green color. The pilasters and columns on the facade facing the courtyard were partly painted, which simulated marble as a material. There was also a bright color inside. Ceilings and walls were artistically painted and completed the magnificent interior with battle and putti friezes as well as lavishly designed portal walls and mantelpiece.

The entire complex was surrounded by a very wide but only quite flat moat , which was accompanied at least in the east by a 3.5 meter wide berm . The river system was fed by the Emscher, whose main course flowed around the area to the north and west until the 19th century. The main castle was on its own island with a bailey in the northeast. The main island and the outer bailey island were connected by a three-arched stone bridge. The palace complex could only be entered from the outside via a drawbridge at the gatehouse of the outer bailey.

Current condition

Exterior

Courtyard facade of the entrance wing

In contrast to older publications, excavations in the 1990s showed that Horst Castle is not a pile foundation, but only rests on several layers of roughly hewn sandstones . This inadequate foundation is the main reason why only a few parts of what was once a large facility have survived in the original. These include the cellars with cross vaults on all four castle wings - with the exception of the basement floors of the west and east tower - as well as the entrance tract in the northwest and the so-called knight's hall with Renaissance cross- storey windows in the rebuilt northeast wing. The north tower connecting the two wings was redesigned in the 1990s with the dimensions of its predecessor and, with its simple sandstone cornice, takes up the horizontal structure of the two adjoining building wings. All other corner towers of the palace complex were rebuilt up to the level of the courtyard in order to show visitors the floor plan and the dimensions of the Renaissance complex. Today it is surrounded by a dry moat from the 20th century.

Horst Castle has exceptionally high roofs. Measured on the outside, the building is around 24 meters high, including the basement, of which twelve meters are accounted for by the roof structure. The most noticeable feature of the entrance facade is the bay window that extends across all floors. It rests on goat - footed consoles and has rich house decorations in the form of caryatids , cartouches and scrollwork . However, since Baumberger sandstone is quite weather-resistant, these decorative elements are almost all no longer original, but reconstructions from the first half of the 1960s, which were modeled on the originals, which were weathered at the time. The facade is divided horizontally by two profiled house cornices, but does not reflect the number of floors in the building. The three-story wing housed the grand bedrooms on the top floor, while the lower mezzanine on the first floor was reserved for servants. The kitchen was on the ground floor. The portal and windows on the outside of the basement floor are not part of the original structure, but were broken out during the conversion to the catering trade. Next to the entrance wing there is a free-standing archway made of rustic ashlar , which is a last relic of the former gate building . Remnants of the former architectural ornamentation can still be found on it. Today a modern ramp leads up to the gate, under which the pillars of the former castle bridge can be seen. Like part of the former fortification wall of the outer bailey, they were exposed during excavations in the 20th century.

Partially reconstructed courtyard facade of the mansion wing

A large part of the former inner courtyard is now spanned by a glass hall. Among other things, it serves to protect the courtyard facade of the north-west wing, which has been badly affected by emissions . Their profiled cornices separate the three floors of the wing. On the ground floor, a pair of square windows is crowned by a common flat gable. In between there are heavily cranked , unadorned pilasters. The building has coupled arched windows on the first and second floors. Between those on the first floor there are Tuscan columns that are richly decorated with bands and support a wide piece of entablature. On the top floor, the arched windows are flanked by Ionic columns and alternate with figure niches, of which only five of the seven niches are left due to the shortening of the wing in the 19th century. The sculptures in it represented the seven planets. Today only the heavily weathered 1.5 meter statue of Saturn is preserved. A richly decorated console cornice forms the upper end of the facade.

The facade of the north-east wing facing the courtyard was much more splendid, but fell victim to demolition work in the middle of the 19th century. However, since numerous parts of the facade decoration were saved from final destruction, two sections of the courtyard facade could be reconstructed. The new parts were characterized by exceptional simplicity compared to the opulent originals. The replica shows the arched main portal with the coats of arms of Rütger von der Horst and his wife Anna von Palandt. These are flanked by Corinthian columns that support a flat triangular gable with a lion's head in the gable field. The spandrels to the right and left of the portal show herms and satyrs wrapped in scrollwork . The two floors of the wing were clearly separated from each other by a profiled cornice. Directly under this ledge runs a stone band with the inscription “EX TOTA MENTE TUA | ET PXIM SICVT [TE I] PM… ". It refers to an Old Testament quote with an addition from the New Testament , which can be translated in full as "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and your neighbor as yourself". The facade axes are separated from one another by Ionic pilasters on the ground floor, while Corinthian columns on the upper floor are based on sculptures.

Interior

Much of the rich furnishings of the interior has been lost over the years through demolition and renovations, but the decorations and pieces of equipment that have been preserved give an idea of ​​the former lavish splendor inside the palace. This includes the resurrection chimney from the 16th century in the chimney room named after him , which is located on the ground floor of the entrance wing. It bears its name after the scenic depiction on its front lintel : Ezekiel's vision of the resurrection of the dead on Judgment Day . In the bay room above is the so-called Diana fireplace , a partial reconstruction from preserved original fragments. Its name comes from its front relief that the punishment of pregnant nymph Callisto by Diana represents.

Other examples of the lavish and precious interior decor that have been preserved as the original include the rusticated portal of the fireplace room and the ornamentally designed walls of a side entrance to the knight's hall . This is the only room in the former mansion wing that was not demolished in the mid-19th century. The year on its main portal means that it can be dated to 1566. In the floor of the hall there is a servant's staircase to the floor below. It was the link to the former castle kitchen and followed models from Italian palazzo architecture. Fireplaces used to stand on both ends of the large room, one of which has been partially reconstructed using fragments of the so-called history fireplace . His front lintel relief shows the battle of the Milvian Bridge .

The gallery corridors on the courtyard side of the entrance wing, new for their construction period, have cross-vaulted ceilings. The one on the ground floor is a groin vault, while the gallery on the first floor has a ribbed vault. This is decorated with ornamental and figurative painting in black, beige and gray tones, which comes from the time of construction. However, only a restored section is currently visible to the visitor; the rest of the painting is waiting to be repaired under plasterboard .

Art historical classification

Despite enormous losses in the building structure through decay and demolition, Horst Castle is still the most important Renaissance building in the Ruhr area and one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Westphalia. The generosity of the facility, its regularity and the quality of the execution made it a pioneer of a new form of aristocratic architecture, which found imitators far beyond the borders of Westphalia. Its architectural concept was revolutionary for the time. It mixed influences from French models with ingredients from Italian palazzo architecture. The new Horster building - a closed four-wing complex with protruding pavilion towers at the corners - was very similar to the floor plans of the Ancy-le-Franc and Écouen palaces . The interior design followed in many things the design that was customary in Italian palazzi. These included, for example, the courtyard-side galleries and the central staircase integrated into the structure. Horst was the first facility in Westphalia in which a strict distinction was made between public traffic areas and private rooms by using galleries to develop the individual rooms. Due to the representative and spacious staircase with its new type of two- flight staircase, which consisted of straight stairways and a reversing platform, it was possible to dispense with a stair tower in front of the facade, which was customary up to that time .

The Horster building sculpture was impressive in terms of both quantity and quality. The sculptural house decor, which is influenced by Dutch Mannerism and is now known as the “Stone Treasure”, was downright lavish for palace construction in the 16th century and is considered a link between Dutch architecture and architecture in the Weser region . All these features prompted the art historian Richard Klapheck to coined the term Lipperenaissance , for which Horst Castle was not only the inspiration, but is also considered to be a “key building”.

The "Stone Treasure"

Door frames from Horst Castle, now in the Ruhr Museum

As the long-time owner of the castle, the Fürstenberg family managed to preserve various pieces of the valuable facade decoration as well as parts of portals and chimneys. The building sculpture, now known as the “Stone Treasure”, consists of ornaments, figurative ornaments, friezes with portraits of putti and slaughter, and scenic reliefs made of terracotta and emperor tondi with a diameter of 40 cm. Some house fragments of the former facade decoration can now be found in the walls of the existing buildings, because they were randomly built into the room walls, especially in the ground floor and basement, during renovation work in the 1920s for purely decorative aspects. Some sculptures were used for renovations and new buildings at Borbeck Castle , which also belonged to Fürstenberg's possession.

Of the original at least nine ornate picture chimneys at Schloss Horst, only one is still in situ. Three of them found a new home in 1886 in Hugenpoet Castle , which also belonged to the von Fürstenberg family. Another fireplace was brought to Rheinstein Castle , where it was equipped with neo-Gothic accessories. Only fragments of the rest have survived, or they are only known from written sources. The scenic reliefs of these chimneys that are still preserved today are all borrowed from ancient history or mythology as well as the Old and New Testaments . Most of them are based on world-famous works of the Roman or Florentine Renaissance.

The Chimney of Resurrection

The resurrection chimney is the only chimney of the castle that has remained intact and still exists in its original location. He got his name from the representation on his front lintel: the resurrection of the dead on Judgment Day after Ez 37  EU . Above this 2.44 meter wide relief, the lintel is divided into three fields, which very vividly represent the three-aisled interior of a church. The fireplace, which is over 400 years old, is the work of Heinrich Vernukken, who designed it around 1565/70. Vernukken used a Luther Bible from 1564 with woodcuts by Jost Amman as a template for the resurrection scene . All image content - including the side - is explained by inscriptions underneath and were previously painted in color. Due to its position in the former castle kitchen, the fireplace is also known as the kitchen fireplace .

The historical fireplace in the knight's hall today is a partial reconstruction and shows the battle at the Milvian Bridge as a relief in the front lintel based on Raphael's monumental painting in the Sala di Costantino , a room in Raphael's rooms in the Vatican . The central relief above is the pictorial implementation of a story by the Roman poet Livy of the battle of the Horatians against the Curiatians , while the left side of the chimney is modeled on the relief of the triumphal procession of Marcus Aurelius in the Conservatory's Palace in Rome .

The so-called Diana fireplace in the Horster oriel room was put together from individual fragments, without the certainty that the parts used actually come from a single fireplace. Its front relief shows the punishment of Callistus by the goddess Diana. A copper engraving by the Dutchman Cornelis Cort based on a painting from Titian's workshop served as a template for the scene . The year in the lintel dates the fireplace to 1575. The poorly preserved side reliefs could show motifs on the same subject. They have inscription cartouches with Latin quotations from Ovid's Metamorphoses . The upper chimney end consists of an elaborately decorated structure, which shows the image of the sleeping Venus with Cupid .

The three chimneys transferred to Hugenpoet Castle in the second half included the Cain and Abel chimney and the Lot chimney from 1560, as well as the so-called Troja chimney from 1578. This is named after its relief that depicts the fire Troy shows and Raphael's fresco Borgobrand is modeled in the Vatican stamps. Raimondi's copperplate engraving of this scene served as a template .

Excavation finds

During the excavations on the castle grounds in the 1990s, numerous finds came to light, which underlined the extraordinarily high art-historical importance of the castle. In addition to found fragments of facade ornamentation and pieces of medallions with images of Roman Caesars , the excavators also found pieces of so-called tectonic tiles. These are parts of high-quality strips, cornices, wreaths and crowning tiles. In addition, evidence of a splendid court rulership and sophisticated table culture were also found, for example cutlery made of silver and ivory , precious vessels made of cut stone, ceramics and Venetian glasses . A unique find fell into the hands of the archaeologists with a tumbler from the second half of the 16th century. It shows a man smoking a pipe in Spanish court costume and could possibly represent the builder of the castle, Rütger von der Horst.

literature

  • Elmar Alshut: Schloss Horst: building history - stylistic classification - decay - concepts and measures for preservation. In: Elmar Alshut, Guido von Büren, Marcell Perse (eds.): A castle is being built ... From Jülich in the Rhineland to Horst in Westphalia. Jülich Geschichtsverein 1923 eV, Jülich 1997, ISBN 3-930808-06-4 , pp. 45–54.
  • Elmar Alshut, Hans-Werner Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen (= castles, palaces and fortifications in Central Europe . Volume 15). Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2006, ISBN 3-7954-1483-0 .
  • Elmar Alshut, Ulrich Reinke, Ralph Röber, Beat Sigrist: Horst Castle, Gelsenkirchen . In: Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, Westphalian Office for Monument Preservation (Ed.): In the course of time. 100 years of the Westphalian Office for Monument Preservation . Aschendorff, Münster 1992, pp. 133-189.
  • Wiltrud Apfeld: The historical development of Schloß Horst . In: Contributions to the Renaissance between 1520 and 1570 (= materials on art and cultural history in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 2). Jonas, Marburg 1991, ISBN 3-89445-113-0 , pp. 43-52.
  • Klaus Gorzny: Emscherschlösser. A companion. Piccolo Verlag, Marl 2001, ISBN 3-9801776-5-3 , pp. 43-49.
  • Gustav Griese: Castle and Schloss Horst . In: Gustav Griese (Ed.), Albert Weskamp (Ed.): Castles and palaces in Gelsenkirchen . 2nd Edition. Heimatbund Gelsenkirchen, Gelsenkirchen 1960, pp. 74-84.
  • Lutz Heidemann: How do you "save" a Renaissance castle? Previous activities of the Förderverein Schloß Horst e. V. In: Contributions to the Renaissance between 1520 and 1570 (= materials on art and cultural history in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 2). Jonas, Marburg 1991, ISBN 3-89445-113-0 , pp. 37-42.
  • Richard Klapheck : The masters of Horst Castle in Broiche. The final chapter on the history of the school of Calcar . Wasmuth, Berlin 1915 ( digitized version ).
  • Cornelia Kneppe: Horst Castle . In: Kai Niederhöfer (Red.): Burgen AufRuhr. On the way to 100 castles, palaces and mansions in the Ruhr region . Klartext, Essen 2010, ISBN 978-3-8375-0234-3 , pp. 210-213.
  • August Kracht : Castles and palaces in the Sauerland, Siegerland, Hellweg, industrial area. A manual. Umschau, Frankfurt am Main 1976, ISBN 3-8035-8011-0 , pp. 279-287.
  • Hans-Werner Peine: Monument: Horst Castle. A house through the ages . In: Archeology in Germany , Issue 2/2003, Stuttgart 2003 ISSN  0176-8522 , pp. 66-67 ( online ( Memento from April 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )).
  • Hans-Werner Peine: Under the pavement. A court reveals its secrets. Results of the excavations at Horst Castle. In: Elmar Alshut, Guido von Büren, Marcel Perse (eds.): A castle is being built ... From Jülich in the Rhineland to Horst in Westphalia. Jülich Geschichtsverein 1923 eV, Jülich 1997, ISBN 3-930808-06-4 , pp. 55–59.
  • Hans-Werner Peine, Cornelia Kneppe: Horst House in the Emscherbruch. City of Gelsenkirchen (= early castles in Westphalia . Volume 21). Antiquities Commission for Westphalia, Münster 2004, ISSN  0939-4745 ( online ).
  • Harald Polenz: Horst Castle. A renaissance monument is saved. Documentation . Felidae, Essen [1992], ISBN 3-928843-01-X .

Web links

Commons : Schloss Horst  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 3.
  2. ↑ K. Gorzny: Emscherschlösser , 2001, p. 44.
  3. ↑ List of monuments of the city of Gelsenkirchen. Part A - architectural monuments. ( PDF ; 47 KB).
  4. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 12.
  5. ↑ a b c d e H. Polenz: Schloß Horst. A renaissance monument is saved , [1992], no p.
  6. ^ A. Kracht: Burgen und Schlösser im Sauerland, Siegerland, Hellweg, Industriegebiet , 1976, p. 280.
  7. ↑ a b c d C. Kneppe: Schloss Horst , 2010, p. 211.
  8. ↑ Walther Zimmermann , Hugo Borger (ed.): Handbook of the historical sites of Germany . Volume 3: North Rhine-Westphalia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 273). Kröner, Stuttgart 1963, DNB 456882847 , p. 299.
  9. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 27.
  10. ↑ a b Information on Hanseschale on schlosshorst.de , accessed on May 6, 2013.
  11. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 17.
  12. ↑ a b E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 11.
  13. ↑ a b G. Griese: Burg und Schloss Horst , 1960, p. 82.
  14. ↑ a b G. Griese: Burg und Schloss Horst , 1960, p. 83.
  15. ^ W. Apfeld: The historical development of Schloß Horst , 1991, p. 52, note 35.
  16. ↑ a b L. Heidemann: How do you "save" a Renaissance castle? , 1991, p. 39.
  17. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 11.
  18. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 5.
  19. ↑ G. Griese: Burg und Schloss Horst , 1960, p. 75.
  20. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 14.
  21. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 15.
  22. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, pp. 14–15.
  23. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 8.
  24. ↑ a b c d E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 10.
  25. ↑ a b H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 22.
  26. ↑ G. Griese: Burg und Schloss Horst , 1960, p. 74.
  27. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 22.
  28. ↑ a b c d e E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 23.
  29. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 21.
  30. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Haus Horst im Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 32.
  31. ↑ a b H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 23.
  32. ↑ G. Griese: Burg und Schloss Horst , 1960, p. 78.
  33. ↑ a b Klaus Gonska: The construction diaries of Rütger von der Horst (1519–1582) . In: Contributions to the Renaissance between 1520 and 1570 (= materials on art and cultural history in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 2). Jonas, Marburg 1991, ISBN 3-89445-113-0 , p. 53.
  34. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 14.
  35. ↑ a b c d e Georg Dehio : Handbook of German Art Monuments . North Rhine-Westphalia . Volume 2: Westphalia. Deutscher Kunstverlag , Munich, Berlin 1969, p. 179.
  36. ↑ Klaus Gonska: The construction diaries of Rütger von der Horst (1519–1582) . In: Contributions to the Renaissance between 1520 and 1570 (= materials on art and cultural history in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 2). Jonas, Marburg 1991, ISBN 3-89445-113-0 , p. 54.
  37. ↑ a b R. Klapheck: Die Meister von Schloss Horst im Broiche , 1915, p. 193.
  38. ↑ a b c d E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 19.
  39. ^ R. Klapheck: Die Meister von Schloss Horst im Broiche , 1915, p. 85.
  40. ^ W. Apfeld: The historical development of Schloß Horst , 1991, p. 55.
  41. ↑ Klaus Gonska: The construction diaries of Rütger von der Horst (1519–1582) . In: Contributions to the Renaissance between 1520 and 1570 (= materials on art and cultural history in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 2). Jonas, Marburg 1991, ISBN 3-89445-113-0 , p. 55.
  42. ↑ a b Elmar Alshut u. a .: Schloß Horst, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 151.
  43. ^ A b W. Apfeld: The historical development of Schloß Horst , 1991, p. 44.
  44. ↑ For example Richard Klapheck in his publication Die Meister von Schloss Horst im Broiche .
  45. ↑ G. Griese: Burg und Schloss Horst , 1960, p. 81.
  46. ^ W. Apfeld: The historical development of Schloß Horst , 1991, p. 51, note 17.
  47. ↑ a b c d e f Elmar Alshut u. a .: Schloß Horst, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 165.
  48. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 24.
  49. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, pp. 16-17.
  50. ^ W. Apfeld: The historical development of Schloß Horst , 1991, p. 46.
  51. ^ W. Apfeld: The historical development of Schloß Horst , 1991, p. 49.
  52. ↑ Information according to E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Schloss Horst in Gelsenkirchen , p. 17. Wiltrud Apfeld suspects the collapse some time earlier and dates it to the years between 1770 and 1820. See W. Apfeld: Die Bauhistorische Entwicklung von Schloß Horst , 1991, p. 46.
  53. ↑ a b c E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 17.
  54. ↑ a b E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 30.
  55. ^ R. Klapheck: Die Meister von Schloss Horst im Broiche , 1915, p. 32.
  56. ↑ Elmar Alshut et al. a .: Horst Castle, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 140.
  57. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 45.
  58. ↑ G. Griese: Burg und Schloss Horst , 1960, p. 84.
  59. ↑ Elmar Alshut et al. a .: Schloß Horst, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 186.
  60. ↑ Elmar Alshut et al. a .: Horst Castle, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 170.
  61. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 6.
  62. ^ Udo Liessem, Cornelia Baumann-Oelwein, Helmut Caspar, Thomas Leibrecht: News from the preservation of monuments. In: Castles and Palaces . Vol. 36, No. 3, 1995, ISSN  0007-6201 , p. 181.
  63. ↑ Brief portrait of the castle on the website of the city of Gelsenkirchen , accessed on February 8, 2016.
  64. ↑ Important addresses for your concerns on gelsenkirchen.de , accessed on February 8, 2016.
  65. ↑ Hans-Werner Peine, Cornelia Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch, independent city of Gelsenkirchen in the Internet portal "Westphalian History", accessed on February 9, 2014.
  66. ↑ Information on castle tours on the website of the Friends' Association Schloss Horst , accessed on February 9, 2014.
  67. ↑ Newsletter No. 41 of the Förderverein (PDF; 220 kB) ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  68. ↑ Historical printing workshop
  69. ↑ Elmar Alshut et al. a .: Horst Castle, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 142.
  70. ↑ a b E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 34.
  71. ↑ a b Elmar Alshut u. a .: Schloß Horst, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 143.
  72. ^ GeoServer NRW, Cologne District Government, GEObasis NRW department
  73. ↑ Ralph Röber: Archaeological investigations on Horst Castle. Preliminary report on the 1990 excavation season . In: Contributions to the Renaissance between 1520 and 1570 (= materials on art and cultural history in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 2). Jonas, Marburg 1991, ISBN 3-89445-113-0 , p. 61.
  74. ^ W. Apfeld: The historical development of Schloß Horst , 1991, p. 48.
  75. ^ R. Klapheck: Die Meister von Schloss Horst im Broiche , 1915, p. 18.
  76. ^ R. Klapheck: The architecture on the Lower Rhine . Volume 1, reprint of the 1916 edition. Weidlich, Frankfurt am Main 1978, ISBN 3-8128-0020-9 , p. 143 ( online ).
  77. ↑ Elmar Alshut et al. a .: Schloß Horst, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 177.
  78. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, p. 29.
  79. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, pp. 24-25.
  80. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 37.
  81. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 27.
  82. ↑ Ralph Röber: Archaeological investigations on Horst Castle. Preliminary report on the 1990 excavation season . In: Contributions to the Renaissance between 1520 and 1570 (= materials on art and cultural history in Northern and Western Germany . Volume 2). Jonas, Marburg 1991, ISBN 3-89445-113-0 , p. 75.
  83. ↑ For example Harald Polenz in Schloss Horst. A renaissance monument is saved and Alshut / Peine in Schloss Horst in Gelsenkirchen . In their publication Haus Horst im Emscherbruch, Peine / Kneppe even assume that there are at least eleven chimneys.
  84. ^ W. Apfeld: The historical development of Schloß Horst , 1991, p. 50.
  85. ^ R. Klapheck: The Masters of Schloss Horst im Broiche , 1915, p. 58.
  86. ↑ Elmar Alshut et al. a .: Horst Castle, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 167.
  87. ↑ a b E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 36.
  88. ↑ Elmar Alshut et al. a .: Schloß Horst, Gelsenkirchen , 1992, p. 168.
  89. ↑ a b E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 39.
  90. ^ R. Klapheck: Die Meister von Schloss Horst im Broiche , 1915, p. 102.
  91. ↑ a b c E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 44.
  92. ^ R. Klapheck: Die Meister von Schloss Horst im Broiche , 1915, p. 94.
  93. ↑ E. Alshut, H.-W. Peine: Horst Castle in Gelsenkirchen , 2006, p. 48.
  94. ↑ H.-W. Peine, C. Kneppe: Horst House in Emscherbruch , 2004, pp. 32–33.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on February 19, 2014 in this version .


Coordinates: 51 ° 32 '11.1 "  N , 7 ° 1' 33.6"  E