Irmelshausen moated castle

Irmelshausen Castle

Layout

The moated castle Irmelshausen is a castle in the Höchheimer district Irmelshausen in the district of Rhön-Grabfeld . It is located in the Lower Franconian part of the grave field . The building has been in the possession of the von Bibra family since 1376 , and from 1984 half of it has been owned by the Stauffenberg family .

history

In Irmelshausen there was a castle which the lords of Irmelshausen , a branch line of the Counts of Henneberg, used as the ancestral seat of their small dynasty. Poppo III. was the first in the 12th century to name himself after the seat of Irmelshausen. In the middle of the 13th century the property fell back to the main line of Henneberg-Schleusingen before it was sold to the Würzburg monastery in 1354 .

Irmelshausen Castle has been in the possession of the influential von Bibra family since 1376, and they helped shape political events in Franconia, southern Thuringia and the empire. The current building was built by the lords of Bibra in the 15th century. Hans von Bibra had it expanded into its current form between 1556 and 1561. The previous buildings belonged to the Counts of Henneberg and were probably from the 11th century.

At the end of the 18th century, the brothers Eugen Georg von Bibra and Ludwig Friedrich von Bibra divided the castle in half (older and younger lines). The family of the Barons von Bibra still live in the Irmelshausen moated castle.

After the death of her husband Sigismund von Bibra, Renate Baroness von Bibra, née von Guttenberg, bequeathed her half of the castle (older line) to her adopted daughter Elisabeth Schenk Countess von Stauffenberg, née Freiin von und zu Guttenberg, wife of Franz Ludwig Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg . Since then, half of the castle has been owned by the family of the Counts of Stauffenberg .

description

location

The half-timbered buildings of the Irmelshausen moated castle rise on an artificial island in the Milzgrund . The completely preserved medieval fortress is considered to be the most beautiful moated castle in Franconia . The swamp in which it lies had been transformed into a pond with an island in the middle by damming the spleen.

Castle complex

The irregular pentagonal castle looks picturesque with its stone basement floors and half-timbered towers and has already been used as a film set. The stately half-timbered building is surrounded by a five-sided, extensive circular wall with corner turrets and a gate. In the Middle Ages, the closed fortress could only be reached from the village side via a drawbridge.

In 1514 the Irmelshausen moated castle was enlarged. Under Hans von Bibra, three new wings, the so-called Hansenbau, were built in 1556–1561.

Around 1700 the drawbridge was replaced by a stone bridge. Remains of a small outer bailey (barbican) are still preserved on the land side. The lifestyle of a noble family is reflected in the interior design, furniture and art treasures. The castle furniture is one of the most valuable collections in the region. Since the von Bibra family still live in their half of the castle, it can only be viewed from the outside. Karl Graf Stauffenberg and his family have lived in his half of the fortress since 2014 and runs his event agency there.

Web links

Commons : Wasserschloss Irmelshausen - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Irmelshausen moated castle in the Rhön Lexicon

50.362642 10.468983Coordinates: 50 ° 21 ′ 45.5 ″ N , 10 ° 28 ′ 8.3 ″ E