Junkernhees Castle

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Junkernhees Castle, 2010

The Junkernhees Castle is a Renaissance castle in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Kreuztal in the Siegerland . It is located in the Kreuztal district of Junkernhees of the same name . Parts of the castle go back in their current form to the year 1523, when the building was built as a moated castle by the Lord von und zu der Hees, Knight Adam ; other conversions and extensions are from 1698.

history

Site plan of Junkernhees Castle in the early 20th century

The Junkernhees site is located in the area of ​​the watershed between the Ferndorfbach and Bigge rivers . The property is located on the slate bank of about 300  m above sea level. NHN nearby hill projection of the 375-meter-high stone grove , the flood-protected with a slight slope extends into the valley of Heesbachs. Towards the end of the 13th / beginning of the 14th century, the swampy terrain of some of the area's valleys was drained and new trade routes were established. A road led through the valley of the Heesbach in the direction of Oberholzklauer Schlag, a border crossing in the Landwehr Kölsches Heck . There this Heestalstraße met the Altstraße between the cities of Siegen and Cologne .

According to research, the noble family von der Hees comes from the area around the town of Attendorn in Westphalia in the Electorate of Cologne . In 1294, the family acquired rights to Siegerland real estate and thus political influence for the first time by purchasing a share in the tithing of the city of Netphen . Further purchases of land rights by the von der Hees family between Ferndorfbach and the Sieg River are documented for the year 1362.

Predecessor building in Heesburg

At the strategically favorable location in the Heestal, a fortified country estate, the Heesburg , is first documented for the year 1372: On June 28, 1372 the knight Gottfried III confirmed. von der Hees and his wife Meckel in a certificate that they received the house "zur Hese" including the moat from Count Johann I of Nassau as a fief . In return, the Nassau count was granted the right to open the house. In the almost 100 years that followed, the Heesburg changed hands several times. In 1468 the feudal relationship between the descendants - Count Johann IV. Von Nassau (1410–1475) and Philipp von der Hees - was renewed under the conditions of 1372, again in 1476 with Johann V. von Nassau (1455–1516).

Wappenstein of Adam von der Hees and his wife Margaretha Schutzbar

Building and ownership history of Junkernhees Castle

The Junkernhees Castle in its partially preserved form was built in the first quarter of the 16th century by Philip's younger son, Adam von der Hees (1475–1531), about 250 meters from the older Heesburg. The year of the start and the duration of the construction work can no longer be precisely determined today; the start of construction is estimated to be around 1514. The owners moved in on December 1, 1523; The taking of possession of the new building was documented by a coat of arms stone with the coat of arms of Adam von der Hees and his second wife Margaretha Schutzbar attached above the portal. In the 16th century, Junkernhees Castle was a fortress made of quarry stone masonry with four towers, loopholes and a moat.

Half-timbered gable from 1698

The ownership of the noble von der Hees family ended with the death of Johann Stephan von und zu der Hees (1615–1634), great-grandson of Adam von der Hees. Johann Stephan's daughter Anna Maria, who married the Junker Heinrich von Syberg zu Schwerte before 1650, became the new owner . The new name of the property, Junkernhees, is documented for the first time from this time .

In 1698 the purely defensive character of Junkernhees was given up. The main building was expanded to include a half-timbered structure on a quarry stone plinth with two large gables. The inscription on one gable, "DW Syberg 1698" with a picture of a five-spoke wheel, points to Junker Dietrich Wilhelm von Syberg (1650–1742) as the builder. Today the house is considered to be one of the oldest preserved houses of this type in the Siegerland.

Todays use

The former distillery and the former mill from 1796 have been preserved in the outbuildings. Both are now used as residential buildings. From 1971 to 2011 there was a hotel and restaurant in the listed building. The round tower was restored in 1999. Art exhibitions were also held in the castle at irregular intervals. According to information from the Siegener Zeitung, there were plans to sell the castle by early 2012 to an investor who wanted to convert it into a hotel with 100 rooms. Since this could not be implemented and the vacant building was threatened with decay due to non-use, an association for the preservation of Junkernhees Castle was founded in 2014. The registered association has been taking care of the repairs since then. The necessary financial resources are generated through membership fees, donations and various events, including civic festivals and music festivals, as well as the biennial day of the open monument .

literature

  • Gerhard Scholl: Our Junkernhees - castle and surroundings between yesterday and today . Published by the city of Kreuztal on the occasion of the 450th anniversary of the creation of Junkernhees. Kreuztal, 1974

Web links

Commons : Junkernhees Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Scholl: Our Junkernhees. P. 7.
  2. ↑ Scholl: Our Junkernhees. P. 8.
  3. ↑ Scholl: Our Junkernhees. P. 11: The surviving document is now in the Münster State Archives
  4. ↑ Scholl: Our Junkernhees. P. 11.
  5. ↑ "[...] vff a wild Hayde vnnd vf Ainen gruenen Wasemb an apartment in the Heese started [...]" - quote from a pamphlet from 1557, quoted from Scholl: Our Junkernhees. P. 12.
  6. ↑ Scholl: Our Junkernhees. P. 14.
  7. ↑ Scholl: Our Junkernhees. P. 17.
  8. ↑ Interested parties want to invest up to 9 million euros. ( Memento from July 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) In: Siegener Zeitung Online. July 7, 2011.
  9. ↑ DerWesten - derwesten.de: New association takes care of Junkernhees Castle . ( derwesten.de [accessed on March 21, 2018]).
  10. ↑ Hendrik Schulz: Rustic cosiness at Junkernhees Castle . ( derwesten.de [accessed on March 21, 2018]).
  11. ↑ Nils Balke: Open Monument Day: Experience history in Siegerland . ( wp.de [accessed on March 21, 2018]).

Coordinates: 50 ° 57 ′ 5 ″  N , 7 ° 57 ′ 30 ″  E