Nörvenich Castle

Aerial view of the plant

Front view of the mansion

Rear of the mansion (2014)

Nörvenich Castle , formerly called Gymnicher Burg , is located in Nörvenich , Düren district , North Rhine-Westphalia . Around 1400, the bailiff Wilhelm von Vlatten built the fortified palace of the water-protected Gymnich castle on the outskirts of Nörvenich. Through various additions and alterations as well as the tower and building demolition in the area of the outer bailey at the beginning of the 20th century, the structure got its present appearance.

Origin and early construction phase

Excavations of the Bonn State Museum in 1982 have so far shown that a smaller, demolished castle from the middle of the 14th century stood at the current location. High medieval Pingsdorf pottery was recovered from a post pit . Two fountain fillings were removed from the Pallaskeller.

Settlement of the region began thousands of years ago. In pre-Christian times, the Celts and Germanic tribes were among the tribes who crossed and populated the area, followed by the Romans.

The rectangular castle with four round bay towers discovered during the excavation in 1982 was about 11 by 25 meters and had a kennel in front of it to the north . Werner von Vlatten, named as bailiff of Nörvenich between 1366 and 1394, is likely to have lived there. In 1403 his son Wilhelm became the owner of the castle after a division; It has not yet been clarified whether this was the original structure or the new building. When the estate was divided, Wilhelm's brother Werner received a farm from which Harff'sche Burg developed two centuries later.

The older 11 by 25 meter castle house must have been demolished down to its foundation walls at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries. The 7 meter longer hall with a correspondingly enlarged kennel was then built on the foundations. The two-story mansion , three-winged since the 18th century, stands above a high basement, the brick masonry is sometimes up to 1.50 meters thick. It has heavy hipped roofs that are tiled, and dormers and tower domes made of steel. In the 15th century the property fell to Konrad Scheiffart von Merode-Bornheim through marriage. Wilhelm Scheiffart von Merode and his wife Agnes von Bylandt added the west wing to the house in the middle of the 16th century. A bay window cantilevering on consoles , the parapets of which bear the Merode and Bylandt coats of arms and Gothic masonry on the side, is partly still Gothic and already belongs to the Renaissance part. At the end of the 16th century the castle fell through marriage to the baron Johann Otto von Gymnich , in whose family it remained until the 19th century and who gave it its popular name.

Ownership

year	owner
1323	Johann von Merode-Vlatten, married to Mrs. von Kendenich
1350	Son: Werner von Vlatten, bailiff von Nörvenich (1366–1394), married to Aleid von Modesheim (Müddersheim)
1366	Knight Werner Scheiffart von Merode-Vlatten, († 1416), bailiff von Nörvenich, married to wife von Dersdorf
1397	Wilhelm Scheiffart von Merode-Vlatten, († 1510), married to Hermanna von Wachtendonk † 1480
around 1400	Daughter: Lieburg (Yburg) von Vlatten, heiress of Nörvenich († 1483), married to Heinrich Scheiffart von Merode
1419	Wilhelm von Vlatten-Merode receives the Gymnich castle in Nörvenich
1483	Friedrich Scheiffart von Merode-Vlatten († 1457), married to Margareta von Hamale († 1484)
1484	Gerhard Scheiffart von Merode-Bornheim († 1500), married to Elisabeth Beissel von Gymnich († 1522)
1500	Reiner Scheiffart von Merode-Bornheim (1465–1508), married to Katharina von Flodrop (1474–1552)
1508	Ulrich Scheiffart von Merode-Nörvenich (1500–1550), married to Ursula von Hompesch
1543	Wilhelm Scheiffard von Merode-Nörvenich (1526–1586), married to Agnes von Bylandt (1527–1593)
1586	Johann von Gymnich († 1623), married to Katharina Scheiffart von Merode († 1644)
1623	Johan Otto von Gymnich, married to Amalia Kratz von Scharfenstein. Gymnich Castle remained in the family until the 19th century.
1735	Carl Caspar Wilhelm von Gymnich
1739	Vetter: Karl Otto Ludwig Theodat von und zu Gymnich (construction of the south wing)
1825	Count Max von Wolff-Metternich in Gymnich (called Gymnicher Burg)
1830	Viscount de Maistre zu Gymnich, married to Wilhelmine Countess Wolff-Metternich
1840	Count Maximilian von Wolff-Metternich zu Gymnich
1904	Leopold Peill , manufacturer in Düren
1935	Dr. Culemann, Düsseldorf lawyer
Late 1944/1945	Emergency hospital of the German Wehrmacht , ( Battle in the Hürtgenwald )
1955	Josef Rolfes, landowner at Gut Müllenark , Schophoven
1980	Joe F. Bodenstein and his sons John Gilbert and Marco John Bodenstein (publishing family and publicist). Renaming to Nörvenich Castle.

The construction of the south wing

With the canon of Mainz and archdeacon of Trier , Baron Karl Kaspar Wilhelm von Gymnich, the direct descendants of Johann Otto von Gymnich died out in 1739. He bequeathed his Nörvenich property to his cousin Karl Otto Ludwig Theodat von und zu Gymnich , who was Vice-President of the Court Council to Elector Clemens August and First Minister of State under his successor.

Nörvenich Castle around 1860, Alexander Duncker collection

The Mainz canon gave the complex the south wing, the spacious, two-flight flight of stairs with a terrace (courtyard of honor) and an outer bailey , the western part of which was demolished in 1902. At that time the moats were filled in. In order to give the new southern residential wing the symmetrical appearance in line with the taste of the time, it was also given a bay window that was modeled on the one on the west wing, but which is hardly equivalent in terms of style and craftsmanship. In the parapet he bears the builder's coat of arms with the notched Gymnicher cross, his monogram and the year "1732". Both side wings have tall, slender, round corner towers with curved, slotted hoods and baluster tips, as they are carried by the two small, north-facing towers of the kennel and the small west tower, which is attached to the west wing by a low connecting structure. This small western tower may have belonged to the demolished kennel complex, which presumably protected the castle on all sides. The associated fourth tower must have been built over in the 18th century when the south wing was built.

The outer bailey served agricultural purposes until the demolition of the western complex with barns, stables and ancillary rooms . The preserved south wing still has two almost square corner towers with curved domes that the broken off outer wing did not have.

In the 19th century the property fell to Count Wolff-Metternich in Gymnich . They named the new property "Gymnich Castle" to better distinguish it from their ancestral castle in the nearby village of Gymnich.

Main dressing station

A unit fighting in the Hürtgenwald set up a main dressing station (HVP) in the castle (now Nörvenich Castle). Here soldiers wounded at the front received medical care after receiving first aid from company paramedics at the front . Many seriously injured people could not be transported. They were looked after by paramedics in the HVP , supported by girls from the village. The roofs of the castle were marked with large red cross signs to keep enemy planes from bombarding them. A cemetery was created in the castle park, for example on the site of today's elementary school. The German soldiers who died in the HVP and those who were brought back from the front were buried here. The first burial took place on November 11, 1944, as the list of graves drawn up by the HVP shows. From November 11, 1944 until the relocation of the first aid station on February 25, 1945, 221 dead were buried here, including eight 19-year-old soldiers, twenty-six 18-year-old soldiers and fourteen 17-year old soldiers. On February 22nd, 16 years and 3 months old Karl-Heinz Schneider, who was entered in the grave list as a “front helper”, was buried in the cemetery in the castle park.

As long as there was enough wood, coffins and wooden crosses were made in the two wheelwright workshops in the village.

On February 25, 1945, the main dressing station had to be relocated because of the approaching front. The graves were tended by the villagers and later by the community. In September 1950 the bones of the fallen were reburied by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge in the Ehrenfriedhof in Hürtgen .

Development from 1950

Around 1950, the greater part of the roof of the outer bailey with the floor slab collapsed. A renewal was carried out as part of the renovation and utilization of the entire facility. Inside, a number of rooms have richly designed stucco ceilings in the Regency style in the style of the Brühl and Gymnich castles . They carry tendrils of flowers, allegorical figures, but especially putti that carry coats of arms and play shuttlecock . The putto balancing a miter in a room on the upper floor is supposed to refer to the Mainz cathedral builder and Trier archdeacon who carried out the major construction work at the beginning of the 18th century. Since his legacy had better relations with the electoral court due to his outstanding position, he probably took the opportunity to send Italian plasterers from Brühl to his houses in Nörvenich and Gymnich.

Shortly before the Second World War , the facility passed into non-aristocratic ownership. Since then it has changed hands several times . The sculptor Ulrich Rückriem lived and worked in the castle from 1963 to 1971 . The rock group Can set up their recording studio here from 1968 to 1971 . This is where the long-playing records Monster Movie (July 25, 1969), Can Soundtracks (recorded November 1969 to August 1970) and Tago Mago (November 1970 to February 1971) were made.

Renaming to Nörvenich Castle and today's use

Since 1980 the property has belonged to the third generation of the art publisher family Joe F. Bodenstein (born February 24, 1936 in Saaz / Eger), who have called it Bodenstein Castle Nörvenich since 1981 . The suggestion for this came from Oberkreisdirektor Josef Hüttemann (1981–1997), who at a ceremony in the knight's hall with appreciation of the private conservation measures suggested that the monument could now be called “Schloss Bodenstein”. Joe F. Bodenstein was with the Associated Press news agency for 40 years and worked as a parliamentary correspondent in Bonn and Berlin. His persistent democratic commitment to transatlantic relations led to the award of the Federal Cross of Merit by Federal President Roman Herzog

The monument became internationally known as "Bodenstein Castle" (Schloss Bodenstein) due to its cultural activities. The senior of the family was Arno Breker's art dealer in Paris / New York for many years . In 1985 he opened the Museum of European Art for contemporary artists in the castle . a. works by Gustav Zindel are also exhibited.

Registry office and festivals

Since 2005, civil weddings of the Nörvenich community can be carried out during the summer months in the "Fürstensaal" of the castle. The historic knight's hall of the castle offers the ambience for festive wedding parties, company parties, private anniversaries, receptions and concerts for up to 160 people. The monument with the representative castle courtyard and the adjoining castle park of the municipality of Nörvenich is a popular film set.

The castle was entered on March 22, 1985 in the monument list of the municipality of Nörvenich under No. 52. In 1989 the NRW monument plaque was awarded by Prime Minister Johannes Rau in recognition of the private development work “for the preservation of the cultural heritage in North Rhine-Westphalia”.

Monument and art

The Nörvenich Castle monument has repeatedly been the subject of fine arts since the 19th century. According to the archive inventory, these include images of the castle and landscape by the following artists, among others: Alexander Duncker (Berlin) 1890, Ernst Ohst , Rudolf Liefke (Düren) 1984, Jean Schmitz (Düren) 1985, Karl Herzog (Stuttgart) 1986, Paul Seimetz 1987, Siegfried Lunau (Düsseldorf) 1990, Birgit Sewekow , 2005, Lajos Tar (Hungary), 2018.

The palace chapel with the ceiling painting “Assumption of Mary” by Johann Chrysanth Bollenrath from 1729 is located in the northwestern part of the building .

Benefit events

The cultural use of the monument from 1980 onwards opened up the possibility of national benefit events. These include: In 1991, Barbara Genscher, the wife of the Federal Foreign Minister and patron of the German Heart Foundation eV , invited the NRW-Kunstkreis to a Mozart concert at the castle, to which guests from all federal states came. Years before that, the first charity event with First-Lady Mildred Scheel , from which the German Cancer Aid was founded, took place. Another politician's wife came to events, including Hannelore Kohl, to whom the ZNS Hannelore Kohl Foundation for brain-injured accident victims with traumatic brain injuries was founded . The castle is also the meeting place for the international "Alexander Order pour le Merite for Art and Science" (NY, USA).

literature

KH Oleszowsky: “Castles and palaces of the former Prussian Rhine province” ( Alexander Duncker ) then and now, (2012/13) ISBN 978-3-00-042292-8
Stefania Ney: "Lebendige Heimat" museum guide for the Düren district; 2013 edition winterwork. ISBN 978-3-86468-546-0
Henk Verbeek: “Land an der Rur”, architectural monuments and European history along the Rur river in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands; 2014 edition “Kunststrom Rur”, Roerdalen municipality, NL.
Gerd Schönfeld: "Museums and Collections in the Rhineland", Rhineland Regional Association, Cologne. ISBN 3-7927-1843-X
Herbert Pelzer: "Nörvenich fortyfive - after the war in the Neffeltal", HGV-Verlag Heimat- und Geschichtsverein Nörvenich, 2014. ISBN 978-3-942513-28-9
Rainer Arke: "Anniversary Exhibition 2017" - History of Schloss Nörvenich -Verlag Marco-Edition Bonn 2017. ISBN 978-3-921754-53-5

Filmography

The cultural and public life with museum exhibitions and concerts at Nörvenich Castle is often captured in films and reports in order to inform future generations about events in the monument. The film and video productions are registered in the museum archive. This includes the following film documents:

2017 "Musica Humana Lajos Tar " in Nörvenich Castle; (DVD) Film author Koka Wirtz (www.nrwision.de/)
"Sculptures and Music" (DVD) by Marco J. Bodenstein.
"Nörvenich Castle in the Four Seasons" by Josef Porschen.
“Rose Festival at Nörvenich Castle”, a film by Kinga Borowska and Patrick Bodenstein.