Neuscharfenberg Castle
The Neuscharfenberg Castle is a castle in Wenigenlupnitz , in the municipality of Hörselberg-Hainich in Wartburgkreis . It is located on the eastern edge and rises on the high bank of the Nesse . The castle is a protected architectural monument and is now used as a dormitory for the Diakonie .
history
The Lords of Lupnitz and von Erffa
Hermann von Lupnitz 1224–1268 is named as the first lord of Wenigenlupnitz known by name, he belonged to the service nobility of the Fulda monastery . A relative of Conrad von Lupnitz had been a councilor in Eisenach since 1279 , the family died out with a Conrad von Lupnitz , who lived in Berka / Werra in 1440 .
The lords of Erffa belonged to the numerous noble families who were bound to the Fulda monastery by feudal contracts in West Thuringia in the 13th century . Its main seat was the Wasserburg Erffa , it was about 10 kilometers east of Wenigenlupnitz in today's place Friedrichswerth , on the right bank of the Nesse. The goods in Wenigenlupnitz, which were handed over to Hartung von Erffa in 1357 , were initially handed over to him in his function as monastery bailiff for the Lupnitzorte. In the Lupnitz area, however, the Eisenach Nikolaikloster and from 1414 the Eisenach Carthusian monastery were also represented with extensive possessions and rights. The Erffaic goods in Wenigenlupnitz consisted of a moated castle on the Nesse, which the Lords of Lupnitz had already sold to them earlier, as well as lands and ponds.
The lords of Farnroda and of Uetterodt
With the consent of the Fulda monastery, the brothers Dietrich and Hans von Farnroda acquired the Erffaischen possessions and rights in 1493. The wife of Andreas Friedrich von Uetterodt became a sister of the Farnrodaer . The family had bought the Scharfenburg and associated places in 1442 , but in 1446 the Saxon fratricidal war also devastated these properties, the Scharfenburg was besieged and was then a ruin, so a “permanent house” was built in the local area as a new residence. The Uetterodt family divided their estates, the branch founded by Andreas Friedrich von Uetterodt took over the estates around Wenigenlupnitz and Melborn acquired in the Nessetal through marriage.
The moated castle built on the right bank of the Nesse was probably converted into a residential palace around 1596. In addition to the castle, there was a building complex on the Kindel - the later Künkelhof - and the estate near the castle. Under Wolf Sigismund II von Uetterodt , a major fire in 1795 destroyed the castle, the neighboring estate and half of the village of Wenigenlupnitz. Until his death on March 26th, 1821 he managed to reunite the Uetterodtschen possessions. His son, Count Wolf Sigismund, was successful in the Hessian military service and became a knight of the Order of St. John . He lived in Darmstadt and began to build today's castle in Wenigenlupnitz in 1846. However, this was built on the slope above the former moated castle, and some useful components of the fire ruin were certainly used. The new building was named Neuscharffenberg - evidence of the close ties to Thal.
The castle in the 19th century
The residential palace, built in the "old German style", most recently under the direction of the architect and building councilor Eberhardt, was completed except for the tower, which was already under construction. The Eisenach grammar school teacher and historian Prof. Rein often had the opportunity to visit the count, who is also known as an antique collector and genealogist, in his castle. He describes the interior of the castle in an album sheet:
- From the spacious basement of the main building, which is used for various domestic purposes, a wide, airy spiral staircase, the walls of which are decorated with deer antlers, leads through the various floors. The middle one contains the knight's hall, decorated with dark oak panels and beautiful architectural paintings according to plans by Pose in Düsseldorf, which is excellently furnished with medieval weapons, a rich sideboard, etc. On the left is the reception room, the decoration of which includes statuettes, paintings and an old one from the v. Farnroda and Uetterodt form the recently reacquired shrine, originally consecrated to the church of Melborn, but on the right the bedroom and the study. In addition to historical, political science and fiction books, the library contains a selected collection of new splendid and copper works, as well as a considerable number of documents, registers, seals, coats of arms and tomb copies, in particular in relation to Thuringian families, whose history the owner has begun to write Has. On the upper floor, the living rooms are grouped around the banquet hall, decorated with family portraits and landscape paintings. From the gable rooms and the slab of the tower there is an extensive view to the west and east of the lovely tree and meadow rich Nessetal. The tasteful park laid out by Hermann Jäger in Eisenach spreads out at the feet with its rich groups of trees, wide lawns and varied Flower lots. The attached view was taken from here. To the south are the picturesque forms of the Hörselberg, which block the view, but with their magical memories and the sounding Tannhauser melodies lull the imagination into colorful dreams.
The time of the barons
The last Count Ludwig Wolff von Uetterodt died on July 2, 1900 in Wenigenlupnitz. Because there were no heirs, the property was sold and received
- 1900 to a Berlin construction company,
- 1902 to the Oppenheim family ,
- 1904 to the landowner Leo von Ubisch
- 1906 to Baron Dietrich von Klitzing .
The new owner, Baron von Klitzing, wanted to build up a profitable farm economy in Wenigenlupnitz, he had a small hydroelectric power station built to the west of the village and also supplied the two Lupnitz villages with electricity, the land adjacent to the estate was bought and replaced by new buildings. the course of the road to the castle and to Melborn was straightened, with parts of the park designed by Hermann Jäger being sacrificed. A wood was planted in the meadow east of the castle and several machines were procured for agricultural work. With Klitzing's help, the mill near the castle was also technically modernized.
Around 1918, Baron von Helldorf took over the Klitzing property. Baron Helldorf initiated extensive construction work on the castle and the farm buildings. This included the renovation of the gate with the entrance to the manor. The wall with the Gothic-style west gate of the castle was built over with the half-timbered floor. In the 1920s, the economic crisis and inflation also affected life in rural areas. With government assistance, the manor carried out work on the drainage of the plots in the north and employed up to 100 unemployed people from Eisenach and the surrounding towns. From 1927 the baron handed over responsibility for the manor to two administrators. Baron Helldorf then took on a guarantee for his nephew, Wolf Heinrich Graf von Helldorf , police chief of Berlin, who had become heavily in debt. The attempt was made to defy the economic crisis with mortgages and forest sales. Finally, political constraints also contributed to the fact that Baron von Helldorf had to leave Wenigenlupnitz with his family, he was already heavily in debt and yet had no obligations to the community. The last pre-war owner was Hans Tölke from Quedlinburg. He managed to buy back the buildings and lands that had been burdened by mortgages and also to provide job creation measures for the village population. Parts of the Kindel estate were taken over by the military as a military training area. Tölke moved to Bavaria around 1939 and sold the castle to the Eisenach real estate dealer (?) Werner Natz, who sold it to the Berlin district of Köpenick in 1941. On April 3, 1945, Wenigenlupnitz was taken by the Americans, the damage to the manor and castle buildings was minor.
literature
- Album of the residences, castles and manors of Thuringia, especially of the Saxon Lands of the Ernestine line. In pictorial representation. In connection with several accompanied by text u. published by Prof. Dr. J. Gersdorf, archivist in Altenburg, school director. Dr. AM Schulze in Gotha, Hofr. L. Bechstein in Meiningen, Prof. Dr. W. Rein in Eisenach, Dr. Ms. Hoffmann in Hildburghausen. I issue. Leipzig, expedition. (Werl.) Qu.Fol.
- Wolfgang Eberhardt: From the history of the Scharfenburg near Thal . In: On the history of the country on the Werra and Hörsel . (I). Verlag + Druckerei Löhr, Ruhla 1994, p. 45 .
- Ernst Heinrich Kneschke : New general German nobility lexicon . Volume 9, Friedrich Voigt's Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1870, pages 552–553.
- Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels , Adelslexikon Volume XVI, Volume 137 of the complete series, page 131–132; CA Starke Verlag , Limburg (Lahn) 2005, ISSN 0435-2408
- Ütterodt-Scharffenberg . In: Heinrich August Pierer , Julius Löbe (Hrsg.): Universal Lexicon of the Present and the Past . 4th edition. tape 18 . Altenburg 1864, p. 324 ( zeno.org ).
- Series of articles The checkered history of the former castle "Neuscharfenberg" in Wenigenlupnitz - edited and abridged version from the local history of Wenigenlupnitz, appeared in January and February 2012 in four parts in the official gazette of the municipality Hörselberg-Hainich.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 58 ′ 54.7 ″ N , 10 ° 25 ′ 59.7 ″ E