Kleinballhausen Castle

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The former castle in Ballhausen before the renovation (2011)
Economy building (2010)

The Kleinballhausen Castle is a former manor and today's monument in the locality of Kleinballhausen in the municipality of Ballhausen in the Unstrut-Hainich district in Thuringia .

history

At the beginning of the 12th century a seat of the "zu Balenhusen" was mentioned for the first time. The structural origins of the castle date from this time. The von Ballhausen family remained the owners of the castle until 1290, and in 1297 it is said to have been pledged to the Archdiocese of Mainz . From the 14th century the house changed hands several times. In 1518, the Saxon Duke George the Bearded bought the desolate castle. He enfeoffed Hans von Werthern with it, who built it up into a manor. The von Werthern family kept the estate in their possession for 200 years, then in 1720 it went to the von Berlepsch family , who passed it on to the von Keudell family in 1732 .

In 1851, Sebastian Lucius finally acquired the manor from Karl v. Zech (1812-1889). During this time the Lucius family also owned the neighboring estates Roter Hof and Grüner Hof in the neighboring town of Großballhausen . Sebastian Lucius' son Robert Lucius von Ballhausen extended the palace by two side wings and a tower in 1882. The manor included 1200 acres of arable land, extensive stables, a potato flake factory, a water mill, carp breeding, greenhouses and an inn.

At the end of the Second World War , the inventory of the castle was looted by citizens; the valuable interior furnishings and especially a collection of East Asian works of art were thus irretrievably lost. The Soviet occupiers expropriated the owner Johann-Albrecht Freiherr Lucius von Ballhausen and used the castle as a local command and accommodation for refugees. In the 1960s the castle was used, among other things, as a kindergarten and after-school care center. The dilapidated tower and parts of the now dilapidated historical central part of the castle were demolished during the GDR era. The demolished part of the middle part was replaced by a simple, not listed building, the remaining building interior was rebuilt regardless of the historical building fabric. Among other things, eight apartments were created through these measures. Historical building fabric was only preserved in the side wings of the building.

In 2015, the facade of the palace complex was renovated and the middle section built in the GDR era was plastered. In addition to the castle, a large farm building and the castle park have also been preserved.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robert von Lucius : The Erfurt family Lucius. In: Erfurt home letter . No. 37, 1978, pp. 28-37, here pp. 35-36.
  2. ↑ Friedemann Knoblich: A tour of Ballhausen Castle , Thüringer Allgemeine , January 30, 2014

Coordinates: 51 ° 9 ′ 14.4 "  N , 10 ° 52 ′ 25.4"  E