Kirchberg Castle (Kirchberg an der Jagst)

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View from the main courtyard to the transverse wing
View from the rococo hall onto the main courtyard
The knight's hall of the castle

The Kirchberg Castle in Kirchberg an der Jagst is a former princely hohenlohisches Castle .

history

The first castle with a chapel was built around 1240 ; the first documentary evidence mentions Raben von Kirchberg, who came from the von Sulz family ( Sulz Castle ), as the builder in 1265 . The Lords of Kirchberg were probably servants of the Counts of Flügelau ; they are attested until 1464. The facilities were expanded by 1400. When Kirchberg came into the possession of the imperial cities of Rothenburg , Dinkelsbühl and Hall in 1398 and was expanded into the city itself, the castle complex was included in the city fortifications.

Ludwig Kasimir von Hohenlohe bought the castle back in 1562. Extensive changes took place under Casimir and his sons: Between 1590 and 1597 the medieval castle was transformed into a renaissance castle. The hall building, which was built on the site of the first castle, two transverse structures and connecting corridors, so a total of four-winged complex, which was provided with bastions towards the city, date from this time. Only the neck ditch , some foundation walls and a tower with key notches on the northeast side, built around 1500, which perhaps had replaced an older tower, remained of the medieval stock . In 1650, Count Joachim Albrecht von Hohenlohe came into the possession of Kirchberg and made the castle his residence. In 1675 Kirchberg came back into the possession of Langenburg , from 1699 to 1861 it was the seat of the Hohenlohe-Kirchberg line.

Under Carl August von Hohenlohe, Leopoldo Retti planned the conversion to a residential palace, which took place from 1738 to 1745. The widow's building, which became the town hall in 1800, the stables, a well and a guard house as well as the castle moat with bridge, coat of arms stone, Neidkopf and sentry box were added to the old building stock .

Farm buildings were grouped around the rear courtyard. The octagonal tower on the hall building once housed the art and rarities cabinet. The front transverse hall contained a rococo hall , the rear the so-called knight's hall. The originals of the ceiling paintings by Joachim Georg Creutzfelder from Pfedelbach , like the interior of the castle, are now in Neuenstein Castle . Kirchberg Castle was inhabited by members of the Hohenlohe-Kirchberg family until 1861, when it became the property of Öhringer and was used as a museum until 1945. A part also served as a forester's house. The front parts of the complex were used as a school until 1964 , and since the end of the Second World War it has also housed an old people's and nursing home that emerged from an establishment of the Inner Mission for old refugees.

The castle has been owned by the Evangelical Home Foundation since 1952 and can only be visited by prior arrangement; the castle park is freely accessible. In September 2015, the largely empty castle was acquired by the non-profit House of Farmers Foundation.

description

The complex can be entered from the southwestern side of the city via the courtyard of honor, which is flanked by the widow's building and the stables . A bridge leads to a passage through the transverse building and to the next courtyard, the inner courtyard. Finally, from the third courtyard, where the tower is located, at the north-eastern end of the facility you come to the mountain spur peak on which the facility was built. The path leads over a terrace, possibly the former kennel .

literature

Web links

Commons : Schloss Kirchberg (Kirchberg an der Jagst)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 49 ° 12 '22.3 "  N , 9 ° 58' 59"  E