Mörsburg Castle

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Mörsburg Castle
The Mörsburg from the south

The Mörsburg from the south

Alternative name (s): Mörsberg
Creation time : 10th century
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: Receive
Construction: Masonry made from boulders
Place: Winterthur
Geographical location 47 ° 32 '23.1 "  N , 8 ° 46' 7.9"  E Coordinates: 47 ° 32 '23.1 "  N , 8 ° 46' 7.9"  E ; CH1903:  700150  /  two hundred and sixty-six thousand two hundred ninety-six
Height: 511  m above sea level M.
Mörsburg Castle (Canton of Zurich)
Mörsburg Castle

The Mörsburg (or Mörsberg) is located northeast of Winterthur in the Swiss canton of Zurich . It is owned by the city of Winterthur and classified as a cultural asset of national importance .

location

The Mörsburg of the Kyburg seen from

The Mörsburg or Mörsberg, as it was called in the Middle Ages, is located at 511 meters above sea level on the southern foothills of a ridge that separates Winterthur from the Thurtal in the area of ​​the Winterthur quarter and Aussenwacht Stadel . There is a line of sight to Kyburg (9 kilometers away) and Hegi Castle (3 kilometers). The old traffic route to Pfyn used to pass nearby.

history

Drawing by Johann Ulrich Schellenberg, 1750
Mörsburg on the map by Jos Murer , 1566

Nothing is known about the builders of the Mörsburg. It is conceivable that a wooden castle stood on the site of today's residential tower as early as the 10th century.

Presumably the residential tower was built in the late 10th century by the lords and counts of Winterthur in place of an older complex. After 1027 the castle passed to the Counts of Nellenburg . Count Adalbert von Mörsberg is attested as the owner in 1111 . He was married to Mathilde von Nellenburg and took the name from her ancestral castle Mörsberg (today Morimont, Oberlarg ). After 1125, through the marriage of Adalbert's daughter Mechthild with Adalbert I. von Dillingen -Kyburg, the Kyburg family came to the family . Hartmann IV. Von Kyburg expanded it into a castle around 1250. Hartmann IV., The last male representative of the Kyburger, died on November 27, 1264 on the Mörsburg.

His heiress was Margaretha of Savoy . After her death, the castle came to Rudolf von Habsburg in 1273 , who passed it on as a fief to the Meier von Oberwinterthur , who from then on called themselves Meier von Mörsberg. The daughter of the last Meier married Count Egbrecht III around 1360. von Goldenberg , whose father was the Austrian Vogt on the Kyburg. The Mörsburg remained in the possession of the Goldenberger until 1569, when it came to his sons-in-law Hans Ulrich Stockar zu Schwandegg and Max Blarer von Wartensee. He sold it in 1598 to the city of Winterthur, which used the building as the Amman's seat until 1798. In 1799, heavy fighting between the French, Austrians and Russians took place in the vicinity of the castle, which caused severe damage to the castle. In addition, the interior was removed.

After 1841 the Mörsburg stood empty for sixty years. Then the Historisch-Antiquarian Verein Winterthur (today: Historischer Verein Winterthur; change of name April 26, 1974) established itself there, which has since used the castle as a museum.

Until 2000 the castle warden lived in an apartment on the third floor of the castle. Since June 2016 Mörsburg has been looked after by the neighboring inn and restaurant Schlosshalde.

Building history

plan

The oldest traces of wood that can be traced go back to around 1100, the oldest remaining components date from the first half of the 12th century. Major renovations and extensions were carried out under Hartmann IV von Kyburg, who extended the castle with a bailey on the southern terraces, which is mentioned in 1253.

The existing predecessor building was probably reinforced by Adalbert von Mörsburg with mighty erratic boulders with a U-shaped casing that opens up towards the garden. The reinforcement wall continues to the south about five meters beyond the actual core. By connecting the two ends, the kennel-like staircase was created, which was initially open and was later covered.

In addition, a third floor was placed on top of the tower. It is noticeable that the masonry made of boulders only begins about two meters above the ground. This could be an indication that the original moth had been removed, revealing the foundation. The square floor plan is around 16 meters, the wall thickness is almost 5 meters.

In the middle of the 13th century extensive construction work was carried out under the Kyburgers. A bailey is mentioned on the south side in 1253, and a knight's house also seems to have been built. In addition, an early Gothic chapel roofed with cross ribbed vaults was built, which rests directly on the old wall wreath. The similarities in the design of the capitals with capitals from St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva can be traced back to Hartmann's wife Margaretha of Savoy.

The complex also reached its greatest extent in the 13th century, when a circular wall encircled the two southern terraces. Several residential and economic buildings stood within the walls. The last components of the large fortification and the knight's house were destroyed in the Appenzell Wars in the 15th century at the latest, except for the existing tower.

The half-timbered floor, the fourth floor of the tower with the large and small hall, dates from the time of the Goldenbergers. A three-storey porch houses the staircase.

In 1931 the castle was extensively renovated under the direction of the architect JN Bürkel. 1973/74 the interior was overhauled again.

  • North side

  • West side

  • chapel

  • capital

museum

Garden and remains of the outer bailey
  • The garden in the south of the complex shows the walls that were excavated and secured in 1979 and 1980.
  • Cellar: wine barrels, a small trot and two old pub signs
  • 1st floor: Oven pottery, books and the Colonel von Clavis's collection of weapons
  • 2nd floor: items from the history of the fire brigade and tower clocks. The main room shows the exhibition "Nobility and Castle Building"
  • 3rd floor: Early Gothic chapel based on the French model
  • 4th floor: the large ballroom from 1735 and the no hall with the oldest complete tower oven by Ludwig Pfau I. The cube-shaped oven in the same room was made by Heinrich Pfau (1598–1673)

  • Great Hall

  • Small Hall

  • Tower furnace

  • Goldenberg coat of arms

Varia

  • The Mörsburg is a legendary place of the golden bowling game (whereby the golden bowling game is supposed to be a treasure). According to the legend, a young woman is said to be sitting in an underground passage with the treasure at her feet. She is guarded by a black dog and waits for a young man, who releases her with three kisses and takes her home with the treasure.

literature

  • Fritz Hauswirth, Heiner Frei: Castles and palaces in Switzerland . Volume 4. Neptun, Kreuzlingen, 1972 ( DNB 366135201 ).
  • Werner Meyer (Red.): Castles of Switzerland . Volume 5. Silva, Zurich, 1983 ( DNB 989921395 ).
  • Swiss art guide: Wülflingen, Hegi and Mörsburg castles near Winterthur ; Society for Swiss Art History, 1974 ( DNB 99465684X ).
  • Werner Wild: The Mörsburg - a residence and a widow's seat. In: Peter Niederhäuser (ed.): The Counts of Kyburg. A nobility story with breaks. Announcements of the Antiquarian Society Zurich, MAGZ, Zurich 2015, p. 163 ff.
  • Alfred Büttikofer: The Mörsburg - From the manor to the "place of pleasure". A Winterthur crown jewel since 1598. In: Winterthur Yearbook 1998, ISSN 1422-0725 Stiftung Edition Winterthur. P. 84 ff.
  • Heinz Pantli: The Mörsburg - New Insights into an Old History. In: Yearbook Winterthur 1998, ISSN 1422-0725 Stiftung Edition Winterthur. P. 96 ff.
  • Winterthur, Mörsburg Castle. Zurich Monument Preservation. 22nd report 2013–2014. P. 258 ff.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Mörsburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A-Objects ZH 2018 . Swiss inventory of cultural assets of national importance. In: babs.admin.ch / kulturgueterschutz.ch. Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP - Department of Cultural Property Protection, January 1, 2018, accessed on December 26, 2017 (PDF; 163 kB, 32 pages, updated annually, no changes for 2018).
  2. ↑ in Upper Alsace. ART doc
  3. ^ Walter Imhoof: 100 Years of the Historisch-Antiquarischer Verein Winterthur, 1874-1974. S. 62-63 .