Oberberg Castle

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Oberberg Castle (2013)

The Oberberg Castle is a castle above Gossau in the St. Gallen canton in Switzerland . The oldest surviving residential building in Gossau sits enthroned as a medieval defense tower on a hill above the Oberdorf district with a view of Alpstein , Säntis , Fürstenland and the city of St. Gallen .

history

Historic aerial photo by Walter Mittelholzer from 1925

A wooden predecessor building is presumed to be in the 11th century on a hill above Oberdorf about 250 meters north of today's location, as the lineage of the Lords of Andwil can be traced well into the 12th century. The current castle was first mentioned in 1262 under Chunrad de Obernberge . In 1380, Oberberg and Junker Albrecht passed to the Lords of Andwil, who, as ministerials of the St. Gallen monastery, exercised its rights on the Oberberg. The branch of the Andwiler living here was now called von Oberberg. The castle had the task of protecting the abbot's territory against the Bishop of Constance and the Counts of Toggenburg .

During the Appenzell War , the facility was attacked and set on fire in July 1406 by riflemen from St. Gallen and Feldkirch . Reconstruction under Walter von Andwil followed in the same year. Hans von Andwil the Younger sold the castle in 1452 to the Heiliggeist Hospital in the city of St. Gallen.

In 1490, as a result of the Rorschach monastery collapse, the castle came into the possession of the St. Gallen monastery and became the seat of the abbot bailiffs . The St. Gallen abbot Diethelm Blarer von Wartensee had the castle rebuilt and expanded in 1545. It was set up in the living area with a solid stone structure and received its current appearance. During the War of the Twelve in 1712, Oberberg was occupied for three months by the armies of the Bernese and Zurich . The chief bailiffs of the prince abbot lived in the castle until 1789, administered the Oberbergeramt and held court there. Their coats of arms are on the walls of the courtroom.

Between 1798 and 1812 the castle came into the possession of the Canton of St. Gallen. On August 27, 1812, it was auctioned off to Johannes Merz from Herisau and remained in private ownership until 1924. It served in turn as the first Gossau (Emmentaler) cheese factory (1856-1864), embroidery, stone pressure -Werkstatt and since 1877 as economic . The building became more and more neglected due to insufficient maintenance. In 1924, the Oberberg cooperative was formed (today the Oberberg Castle Promotion Association ), which acquired the castle and still maintains it today.

In 1927 the castle was placed under federal monument protection and renovated for the first time in 1954/55. On October 27, 1955, the roof structure and the upper floors burned down. The reconstruction of the plant, made possible thanks to a collection campaign, took three years until it was finally reopened on June 1, 1958. The official opening took place a fortnight later.

Building history

South facade with three-part coat of arms

The castle consists of the keep , a massive rectangular building with a hilted gable roof, which served as a defense and residential tower . The three-part coat of arms of the Abbey of St.Gallen (bear), the Counts of Toggenburg (male) and the abbot Diethelm Blarer von Wartensee (cock with cross in the crest and wattles) are emblazoned on the south-facing facade.

Originally the keep had a square floor plan with an outside width of 15 meters, two meters thick walls and a wooden, cantilevered upper balcony . Abbot Blarer had the castle widened by six meters to the north in 1545 and solidly walled up under the roof structure. At its corners, the chipped edge and hump can still be partially identified. The former, uncomfortable high entrance was replaced by a passage on the ground floor, over the arch of which the year 1545 is preserved. The neck ditch was later filled in and the curtain wall was laid down around 1847.

The historic rooms, which are used today for the hotel business, are spread over different floors. The knight's room , the Abbot Beda's room and the document room are on the third floor. On the second floor are the historic courtroom with the adjoining torture chamber and the Bot Künzle Stube , the official wedding room of the Gossau community. The museum can be visited on the first floor.

Castle chapel (ground floor)

1380–1452 there was probably already a castle chapel with a portable altar. A chapel on the floor of the courtroom was first mentioned in a document on the occasion of the renovation by the city of St. Gallen in 1468.

Today's castle chapel was built in 1864/68 on the ground floor of the castle (northeast part of the fortified tower ) in the former castle dungeon when the Emmental cheese dairy, which was quartered in the same room in 1856, was closed. In 1958 the castle chapel was restored by the Catholic parish of Gossau with federal aid. Today the chapel is mainly used as a wedding venue.

Web links

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

Coordinates: 47 ° 24 ′ 51 "  N , 9 ° 17 ′ 12"  E ; CH1903:  seven hundred thirty-nine thousand four hundred and fifty-eight  /  253126