Liebegg Castle

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Liebegg Castle
Liebegg Castle

Liebegg Castle

Creation time : 1250
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: receive
Place: Graenichen
Geographical location 47 ° 20 '10.7 "  N , 8 ° 7' 3.7"  O Coordinates: 47 ° 20 '10.7 "  N , 8 ° 7' 3.7"  E ; CH1903:  651,324  /  243048
Height: 510  m above sea level M.
Liebegg Castle (Canton Aargau)
Liebegg Castle

The Liebegg Castle is a small castle south of Gränichen in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland . It is located on a 70 meter high rock ledge above the Wynental at an altitude of 510 m above sea level. M. and emerged from a medieval hilltop castle . The cantonal agricultural vocational school, which opened in 1958, is located next to Liebegg Castle.

history

The castle was built during the second half of the 12th century, when a branch of the Lords of Trostburg split off and built a new ancestral seat just half a kilometer away. These Lords of Liebegg, first mentioned in 1241, were a ministerial family of the Counts of Habsburg-Laufenburg , later the main line of the Habsburgs . The first building was replaced by the "new castle" in the second half of the 13th century.

The Liebegg lordship included the village of Gränichen , Schöftland Castle with the associated lordship, the lower court over Birrwil and the church set in Schöftland and Birrwil. From 1318 to 1371 the Knights of Glarus from Zurich were half involved in the rule. From 1415 the Liebegg was under the rule of the city of Bern .

The Liebegger family died out in 1433 and their property was inherited by the Lords of Luternau . These were an old noble family from Luthern near Willisau and were among the most influential families in the city of Bern from the 16th century. In 1596 Augustin von Luternau was in financial difficulties: he sold the rights to use the forest to the villagers of Gränichen and the castle to the city of Brugg . But only two months later he bought the castle back.

In 1602 the noble Escher family from Zurich acquired the Liebegg estate. The Graviseth from Heidelberg followed in 1616 . From 1668 to 1709 the estate was owned by the closely related lords of Landenberg and was returned to the Graviseth family by exchange. By marrying a Graviseth daughter in 1764, Liebegg came into the possession of the influential von Diesbach family from Bern.

After the French invaded in March 1798, the Diesbachers lost their sovereignty and the castle was only owned by real estate. After the Hunziker family of industrialists from Aarau bought the castle in 1875 , it was thoroughly renovated by 1907. In 1946 the castle became the property of the Canton of Aargau and is now used as a conference and cultural center.

building

The double castle complex no longer has any visible parts from the Middle Ages. At the highest point of the hilltop there was once the "old castle", which was separated from the slightly lower "new castle" by a moat . In place of the old castle, the "Luternauhaus" was built in 1561/62, a residential building in the late Gothic style. It has only been partially preserved because the south wing had to be demolished in the 19th century due to its dilapidation. The "new castle" was completely redesigned in 1617/18 and converted into a baroque residential palace. During an earthquake in 1817, the west wall of the residential wing collapsed and had to be rebuilt a few meters back. This part has a classical style.

Liebegg Castle has been the location of the Witch Museum Switzerland since 2018 .

literature

  • Markus Widmer-Dean: Gränicher village history , 2003
  • Rolf Bolliger and Markus Widmer-Dean: Trostburg - Liebegg , 376 pages, Widmer-Dean Verlag, 2005
  • Michael Stettler: The art monuments of the canton of Aargau . Ed .: Society for Swiss Art History . Volume I, districts of Aarau, Kulm, Zofingen. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel 1948, p. 156-159 .

Web links

Commons : Schloss Liebegg  - collection of images, videos and audio files