Kleßen Castle
The Kleßen Castle is a manor house in the district Kleßen the community Kleßen-Görne in Brandenburg .
The listed building , the first part of which was erected in the 17th century, is located at Lindenplatz 1 in the center of Kleßen.
history
Kleßen has been documented as an aristocratic seat since the 13th century. In 1352 the fiefdom of Kleßen was withdrawn from the von Grieben family by Margrave Ludwig the Römer because of infidelity and given to Peter von Bredow. The von Bredow family then lived in Kleßen for many centuries. Achim von Bredow lived here after 1490. One of his grandchildren, Jacob von Bredow, sold the aristocratic residence in 1551 for 15,800 thalers to Joachim V. von Bredow. In 1580 he had a noble house built in half-timbered construction. During this time there was a dispute for many years about possessions with his cousin Hartwig II. Von Bredow, who lived in the neighboring Friesack Castle . The disputes were only settled under Henning V. von Bredow, Joachim's son.
Henning's descendants ran into economic difficulties and in 1642 were no longer able to pay the necessary severance payments for two heiresses. The property was then divided and the halves were drawn by lot to Hippolytha, married von Quitzow, and Ursula Clarine, married von Ketzlin. In the course of the inheritance regulation, the property was described as a large aristocratic house with a wall surrounded by a small tower. The buildings stood at today's entrance to the estate in the direction of Friesack . The division made it necessary to build a new residential building. While the von Quitzow family moved into the existing old building from 1580, the von Ketzlins had a new building erected between 1642 and 1656.
In 1675 Hans Christoph I von Bredow then acquired Quitzow's share. His son Georg V. von Bredow later also acquired the second share, so that the estate belonged entirely to the von Bredow family again.
In 1712 the property came to the Chamberlain Gebhard Ludwig Friedrich von Bredow. At that time, the two historic houses still existed. The older building served as a widow's residence, but was considered to be dilapidated. Between 1723 and 1730 von Bredow had today's castle built on the southern edge of the courtyard. The construction costs amounted to 2,000 thalers, of which the wife brought in 402 thalers. The Chamberlain was succeeded by his grandson Friedrich Ludwig Wilhelm von Bredow , who achieved the elevation of the family to the Prussian count.
During the Fourth Coalition War , the property was looted by French troops under Marshal Joachim Murat in 1806 , in the so-called King Murat affair . There were damages and losses worth 18,000 thalers. Among other things, a tobacco box of Frederick the Great that had long been in the possession of the von Bredow family disappeared .
In 1858 Alfred Georg Hans Hermann von Bredow took over the estate. He renewed the farm buildings. The half-timbered buildings that had existed until then were replaced by massive brick buildings. In addition, he made modifications to the castle in the style of the time. In 1889 the writer Theodor Fontane visited the then owner Alfred Georg Hans Hermann Graf von Bredow in the castle. There are floor plans of the castle made by Fontane.
The castle remained in the possession of the von Bredow family until 1932. Joachim von Bredow went bankrupt and was forced to transfer the property to the Ritterschaftsbank , from which it was Korvettenkapitän a. D. Hermann Ehrhardt acquired. During the so-called Röhm Putsch , he hid in the forests of the estate for a long time, fearing persecution by the SS . With the help of his wife Margarete Viktoria Princess zu Hohenlohe-Öhringen, he fled to Switzerland .
In 1937 Hans Wichard von Rochow acquired the estate, which fell north of Berlin at the end of the Second World War . Kleßen Castle temporarily served as the headquarters of a general in the Wehrmacht .
After the end of the war, the property was expropriated. The community used the castle for different purposes. It was used as a consumer outlet , kindergarten , village cinema and, most recently, until 1981 as a retirement home . After that, it was empty and fell into disrepair after showing increasing structural defects from the 1970s onwards. In 1993 the damage to the building was already considerable. Doors and windows were missing, the roof had partially collapsed. The stucco decorations in the interior and exterior were only preserved in fragments. Basically only the masonry of the building remained. The property was then acquired by private individuals and extensively renovated or reconstructed in accordance with listed buildings in 1999. It is mainly used for residential purposes.
architecture
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overview
The palace was built between 1723 and 1730 as a well-proportioned, strictly symmetrical, three-wing complex in the Baroque style . The two side wings of the complex protrude to the north in front of the main wing and thus form a courtyard of honor . The side wings have a cellar. In the basement of the west wing there are groin vaults , in the east wing barrel vaults and walls made of field stones. The design of the two cellars leads historians to assume that they are remnants of previous buildings.
The central wing has nine axes on its northern side facing the courtyard. There are eleven axes to the garden. The three central axes are designed as a central risalite , with the entrance to the house in the middle. On the garden side, the risalit protrudes significantly further. As an ornament was originally in the frontispiece an alliance coat of arms of the families von Bredow and Perkentin attached.
The attached side wings are only one axis wide.
In the middle of the 19th century, the facility was rebuilt in the classicism style. The building, originally only one-story above a high base, was given a mezzanine floor facing the courtyard . The shape of the roof was changed to a hipped roof in this area . The central projection received a hipped roof, the side wings were given a hip roof. On the garden side, however, the single storey and the mansard roof remained . On the courtyard side, a pergola was placed in front of the building , which impaired the view of the house and was later removed.
On the courtyard side there is a horizontal plaster rustication that divides the house . Above the windows, it ends in round arches in the shape of a star. Another structuring element is a strongly profiled cornice , both between the ground floor and the mezzanine and on the risalit between the first and second floors. This horizontal structure is in tension with the vertical structure created by the window axes and the central projections.
The structure of the garden-side risalit was changed significantly around 1881. The year 1881 was found on the inner door frame of the patio door during restoration work, which is understood as an indication of the construction time. The risalit is characterized by a strong vertical emphasis. It is structured by strong pillars with accentuated capitals that frame the windows and the door. Above there are clearly profiled segment arcs . A rectangular terrace was laid out in front of the garden between 1881 and 1893 , from which a staircase leads down into the garden. The terrace is surrounded by a small parapet wall. The wall is emphasized by plinths on the stairs and at their corners. There were originally four roughly life-size figures on the corners, later flower bowls.
During the restoration at the end of the 20th century, a lunette window was added to the risalits on the garden side . At the same time, the roof received six dormers .
The color scheme of the building is yellow-ocher and is based on established historical color versions.
Holiday apartments are now located in two elongated former farm buildings .
Interior design
The room layout inside the house is partly from the construction time. In this way, typical of baroque buildings, one reaches the vestibule in the middle area from the courtyard and from there into the garden hall. An enfilade in the southern part connects the garden room with two adjoining salons. A library was set up in the 19th century in the easternmost of the rooms . Today it is used again in this form. The dining room is located in the southwest corner of the house . During the restoration at the end of the 20th century, a fireplace surround from 1780, which came from a Scottish country estate, was installed. It is believed to have originated from English interior designers Robert and James Adams. The frame shows fluted Ionic columns and has a frieze decorated with ancient ornamentation.
In the southern part of the building, the simply designed, 19th century door frames are closed off by wooden consoles on which a cornice rests.
During the renovations under Albrecht Georg von Bredow in the period from 1858 to 1895, the interior was made more representative. The vestibule was probably given a floor made of black and white marble tiles around 1875 , which were arranged in the manner of a checkerboard pattern . In 1994 they were only preserved in fragments. During the restoration, red-brown tiles were inserted that come from the Potsdam picture gallery and were no longer needed there after the original floor was restored.
The changes made after 1858 also include a corridor going west from the vestibule. With it, the living and business premises of the central wing were better developed. At that time the side wings were only used as a kitchen, washroom, bathroom and chambers. To the east of the entrance hall is a room, from which a staircase leads to the upper floor. In this room there is a 19th century fireplace adorned with decorative frames.
The garden hall was originally richly decorated with ornaments, ceiling paintings and stucco and was already described by Theodor Fontane. The stucco ran through the room as an ornamental frieze and wall finish. Another stucco band was on the ceiling. In two corners of the room there were niches in the shape of a semicircle, in which Meissen ovens stood. At the top, the niches ran out in the shape of a shell and were lavishly decorated. On the sides there were stucco decorations with floral motifs. The oven niches were probably added in the second half of the 19th century. In 1994 some of the decorations were still there. Originally there was a plank floor in the garden hall, but only a small part of it was preserved in the 1990s. The garden room was set up based on its original children's book mesumj . It shows the same appearance. The niches were fitted with ceramic stoves in the classicism style .
Reliefs and Figures
Reliefs with allegorical figures of children have been added above the windows on the ground floor and the risalit. Of the original nine medallions, eight have been preserved; they were secured and returned to their places during the restoration work in 1999. From right to left there are the following medallions: On the right edge there is a child blowing a horn who is carrying a bundle of lightning bolts in his right hand. It is interpreted as a representation of the element air. To the left of this is a figure whose cloak falls in the shape of a crescent moon and bears a face. In the right hand the figure is holding poppy seed capsules, symbolizing sleep or death. In addition, owls and bats are shown. The medallion could be seen as a symbol for the evening or the night. The next medallion shows a child with amphorae from which water flows. Presumably it represents the element water. A larger medallion is arranged above the entrance door. It shows two children playing on a double flute and a lyre and is interpreted as an allegorical representation of the music. There are also two flanking medallions on which a figure carries a torch and birds fly. They are understood to represent the morning. On the left side of the risalit there are the same representations in a mirrored order.
On the upper floor of the risalit, six sandstone figures stood on plinths between the windows. They were about 130 centimeters high and were dated to the second half of the 19th century because of their clothing, hairstyle, and posture. They were removed in the 1980s and are now lost. There were female figures carrying the following symbols: the hammer stood for handicrafts, the anchor for shipping, a bundle of ears of corn for agriculture, a mask for art, a locomotive for technology and flowers for botany.
There were other medallions above the figures, which were initially secured and later reassembled. On them heads are shown in old German costume . From right to left there is a bearded man's head in a pointed hat, a girl with a hood, a boy with a beret and feather, and a woman's head with curls and a ribbon. In the other half of the building, the same medallions are arranged in mirror image.
Use of the castle building
Exhibitions are occasionally arranged in the main building. With the title As in a picture book? The post-war period in children's books and in memory , an exhibition was prepared from 2019, which will also be operated permanently as a children's book museum on the occasion of its (planned) opening on July 8, 2020 . Among other things, works by Erich Kästner , the Latin primer by the theologian Johann Amos Comenius and living pictures by Lothar Meggendorfer will be shown . Visitors get an overview of the production and publication of children's literature from the 18th century. The collection currently (end of June 2020) comprises around 200 titles that come from the collection of the lord of the castle Hans-Jürgen Thiedig. The oldest children's book exhibited here is called The Visible World and was produced in 1712. In addition to children's literature, there are also contemporary witness reports that mainly reflect the time after the Second World War.
The owners offer other rooms in the castle for individual use for weddings or other family celebrations. Registered visitors can also take part in a garden tour.
Parks
The castle Kleßen include two parks, the one of the castle garden just south of the house, on the other hand the much larger, as far as the south-west Kleßener lake extending Castle Park Kleßen .
The palace garden covers an area of two hectares. When the palace was laid out, a baroque garden should have been laid out. A redesign took place at least around 1900 in the neo-baroque style . Presumably older parts of the garden were included. The garden now had a central lawn, which was bordered to the west and east by large deciduous trees. The rows of trees were originally designed as double rows with an arcade in between. A fountain in the center of the garden was converted into a plant basin in 1950.
In 1993, apart from a few old trees and the foundations of the former fountain, the gardens were no longer there. From 1999 onwards it was redesigned as the Märkischer Gutsgarten . A lawn was created again, framed on two sides by large trees. In the middle is the historic water basin, which is surrounded by four pyramids. To the south, the lawn is closed off by a semicircular yew hedge. A beech hedge marks the western edge of the garden. On the east side there is an orchard planted by the Countess von Bredow around 1900. The central axis of the orchard has been dominated by two obelisks since 2003. It ends in a pavilion from 1900.
To the east of the castle is a small orangery with a loggia , in front of which a perennial garden is laid out. Beds are bordered by staggered hedges. The garden is closed off by a pergola. To the east of it is a square of linden peonies and Rudbeckia fulgida, Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Karl Foerster' ( Försterastern ).
To the north of the castle to the farm yard there is a large flower meadow with two long rows of ornamental apples. In the middle of the meadow stands the former water tower, built in 1885 as a brick building in the historicism style . The main courtyard on the north side of the palace is occupied by a round lawn.
Two old trees standing in this area are remarkable, a linden and an oak. The linden tree is said to have been planted by Gebhard Ludwig Friedrich von Bredow between 1723 and 1730.
literature
- Nicola Riedel-Bröcker in Dehio, Handbuch der Deutschen Kunstdenkmäler , Brandenburg , Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-422-03054-9 , p. 515.
- Marie Luise Rohde, Klessen , Palaces and Gardens of the Mark, Issue 107, 2009, ISBN 978-3-941675-07-0 .
- Christa Hasselhorst : Old reason, new splendor, in: FAS No. 23, June 10, 2018, p. 59.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andrea Gosten et al. Marie Luise Rohde: Klessen, castles and gardens of the Mark . Issue 107, 2009, ISBN 978-3-941675-07-0 , p. 9.
- ↑ Children's book museum in Havelland opens. In: Berliner Zeitung , July 2, 2020, p. 12.
- ↑ A place of peace and contemplation at www.maz-onlin.de, September 1, 2017; accessed on July 2, 2020.
- ↑ G art tours at Kleßen Castle , accessed on July 2, 20101.
Coordinates: 52 ° 44 ′ 22 " N , 12 ° 29 ′ 44" E