Löwenberg Castle (Murten)
| Löwenberg Castle | ||
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 Löwenberg Castle |
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| Creation time : | 15th or 16th century | |
| Conservation status: | Receive | |
| Place: | Murten | |
| Geographical location | 46 ° 56 '20.4 " N , 7 ° 8' 15.8" O | |
| Height: | 443 m above sea level M. | |
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The Löwenberg Palace is a stately country house and former winery in Murten in the canton of Friborg in Switzerland . Built in the 15th or 16th century, it was expanded and supplemented in various construction phases and styles over four centuries. The Center Loewenberg , the training center of the Swiss Federal Railways, is also located on the site . The rooms of the manor house are partly used for training.
history
A burial mound excavated by archaeologists suggests that Löwenberg was already settled in the Bronze Age. The place was first mentioned in writing in 1267 as "Loenber", in a document between the Count and later King Rudolf IV of Habsburg and his adversary Count Peter II of Savoy . In the late Middle Ages the estate was owned by the Velga family from Friborg. In 1476, Bern and Freiburg, as the new owners of Murten, exempted Jakob Velga's vineyard from taxes, as it was badly damaged by the siege and battle of Murten . In 1511 Sebastian von Diesbach bought the estate. He was the first to leave visible traces on the manor house. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the estate changed hands several times and the main building was expanded from a wine farm to a country palace. In 1794 Löwenberg finally came into the possession of the de Rougemont family, during whose ownership many renovations, extensions and new buildings were made. Denis I. de Rougemont and his three sons distinguished themselves as lovers and patrons of excellent architecture. Among other things, they came into the possession of the Hôtel DuPeyrou in Neuchâtel , the Bächigut with the Chartreuse in Hilterfingen and the Schadaugut in Thun, where Denis' son Alfred had the castle of the same name built. The main building of Löwenberg was converted into a representative country estate at this time, various farm buildings were built and the area was redesigned into an English-style park. In addition, the estate reached its greatest size of 250 Jucharten (approx. 75 hectares ) during this time . In 1973 the estate was finally sold to the SBB. The training center was built from 1980 to 1982, and restoration work was also carried out on the historic buildings.
Mansion
Parts and construction phases
The core of the building is still the wine-growing house, which was built in the western corner of the Rebhügel wall in the late Gothic style in the 15th or 16th century: a simple cube. Apart from the volume and the coat of arms of the builder Sebastian von Diesbach, nothing of this can be seen. It is not certain whether he rebuilt the building from scratch or reused parts of the existing one. During the conversion to the Landschlösschen, at the time of the high baroque in the 17th century, the usable area was almost doubled and a tower bay was added as a distinctive element in the southern corner of the building. The part of the building with a stepped gable, which was built on at the same time, is also striking, the ridge of which is perpendicular to that of the main building. In the 18th century the roofs were renovated, which significantly changed the effect of the building. Typical of this time is the added clock in the gable of the main building and the bell dome of the tower tower. After the French Revolution , as in the cities, walls and fences were leveled in Löwenberg. The outside staircase with a fountain was built on the vineyard wall, which could not be torn down . Around 1830 an administrator's house and a barn were built. Neo-Gothic cast iron details of the balcony railing and elements of the loggia that was also added are popular architectural motifs of the 19th century. In 1888 an orangery was added to the north corner of the building.
inside rooms
The manor house has numerous rooms with interiors from different epochs from the 17th century to the present day. A selection of outstanding representative rooms on the first floor are described in the following sections.
Entrée
The entrance, one of the youngest rooms set up in 1888, is on the first floor. The heavy wooden ceiling and the fireplace reflect the style of medieval state rooms . A pseudo-baroque walnut staircase leads to the second floor. Rich woodwork, lead glazing, paintings, plaster, ceramic and cast iron elements as well as the terrazzo floor covered with mosaics bear witness to the spirit of the English Arts and Crafts movement . The entrance area also includes a room formerly used as a library and possibly a smoking room, which is decorated with punched, painted and gilded leather wallpapers from the late baroque of remarkable quality. An oven, also from the first half of the 18th century, and oak panels complete the furnishings.
Corridor and corner saloon
From the entrance to the right, a corridor leads into the main corridor of the original core building. This corridor was decorated with paintings using the grisaille technique as part of the renovations in the 1660s . At the western end of the corridor, a spiral staircase leads to the upper floors and the basement. The salon in the south-western corner of the house was painted at the same time as the corridor. Fantasy landscapes, fruit garlands, intertwined foliage and marbling on the ceiling, walls and window reveals were exposed under overpainting during the restoration work. In the salon there is also a faience oven decorated with verses and sayings from the Pfau workshop in Winterthur from 1670.
Dining room
The dining room was probably painted by an unknown artist around 1840. The quality of the paintings on panels and wall cupboards goes far beyond mere decoration. The main motif, in keeping with Löwenberg, is various, stately grapes. There are also grotesques , flower arrangements, fruits, ivy tendrils, and more. Particularly noteworthy is a still life with birds and fish. Between the windows, a de Rougemont / Thellusson alliance coat of arms refers to the client.
Orangery
The orangery from the Belle Époque forms a closure that is open to the landscape. It consists of two parts. On the one hand a solid component, the size of which is recognizable from the outside by the window walls made of Bernese sandstone , on the other hand from a semi-circular and domed glass house attached to it. Steel profiles and cast iron parts of the glass house are juxtaposed with surface ornaments and ornate columns with capitals .
Environment and park
topography
Löwenberg is located on a hill, one of the foothills of the Pre-Alps between Lake Murten and the Grosses Moos , so it forms a natural bottleneck in the wider area around the Mittelland . The mild maritime climate and the orientation to the south justify the suitability for viticulture. In addition, the estate is protected from the north wind and floods. The house was originally, before the Jura water corrections , which caused the lake level to drop by approx. 3.5 meters, much closer to the lake, with a beautiful view over it. However, these privileges also have disadvantages. Due to its special location, which is important for traffic, the property was increasingly harassed by country roads, railways, motorways, a high-voltage line and also military facilities. In contrast, the SBB training center, which was planned and built under the direction of Fritz Haller , is characterized by a clever arrangement of the new buildings and a soulful reference to the landscape.
Park and farm buildings
The landscaped park, organized along paths, and the buildings that still exist today were created mainly during the Rougemont era. From the manor house to the south leads an avenue of lime trees, on which a considerable tree circle has been created. Halfway on the left, a path leads to a hermitage , which was built on the model of the Chartreuse von Hilterfingen in 1831. Until 1984 it served as a mill, furnace and warehouse. Today it is inhabited. Further south-east of this is the Stöckli tavern , which was built to replace an old wine tavern, a granary, the Grande Ferme and two other mills. To the east of the manor house on the Rebhügel wall there is a trot that was also used as a storage room. From there, a path leads to the top of the vine hill, where a belvedere has stood since the 17th century , of which only remains have been preserved. To the north of the manor house is the administrator's house, with a garden with a Biedermeier- style fountain in between . Behind the caretaker's house is a barn and other small buildings and shelters all around. A pavilion in front of the mansion was only created later .
Military installations
The military facilities on the site are classified as a military monument of national importance. As part of the Three Lakes Defense Line, infantry and artillery positions were built during the First World War to prevent marches from the northwest towards Bern. Between the wars, the Löwenberg bottleneck was further developed as an important section of Switzerland's border fortifications . From 1940, anti-tank traps and a trench were also created. They were to be fired at with cannons from the infantry works, which in turn were covered by light machine gun bunkers. Short-range defense was provided by small systems such as the machine gun position built into the trot. Around 1990 one of the rare Centi bunkers was built next to the Trotte , with the gun turret of a decommissioned tank as a cannon. All systems are no longer in operation today.
literature
- Christoph Schläppi: Löwenberg. (Swiss Art Guide, No. 880, series 88). Ed. Society for Swiss Art History GSK. Bern 2010.
- Markus F. Rubli: Löwenberg Castle. Edition SBB CFF, Murten 1983.
Web links
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