Rahe Castle

Coordinates: 50 ° 47 ′ 51 ″  N , 6 ° 4 ′ 6 ″  E

Rahe Castle​

North Rhine-Westphalia

Rahe Castle (old spelling: Raede, Roide ) is a former manor complex built as a moated castle in the Laurensberg district of Aachen , which was converted into a representative, castle-like country residence in the 18th century. This currently serves as an upscale business center .

history

Rahe Castle, old main entrance to the former inner courtyard. Today a side entrance and the former inner courtyard behind it was converted into a covered atrium during the renovation by the Aachen reinsurance company

Rahe Castle, view from the garden to the rear terrace of the castle

According to various local historical mentions, the origins of the old moated castle go back to the 13th century. The von Roide and van der Linden families came into question as the first owners in the 14th century. In 1423 Gerhard, the son of the mayor Heinrich van der Linden , sells his apparently half share of Gut Raede / Roide to Wilhelm von der Hagen and his wife Katharina von Roide. Since Wilhelm's marriage remained childless, his share went to his brother Johann von der Hagen, married to Gertrud von Roide, a sister of Katharina. At the same time, their brother and mayor Johann von Roide owned the other half of the estate. While it is not clear how his share was passed on, the other half were initially inherited by the children of Johann von der Hagens, with one part going to Johann Junior, whom he sold to Stefan von Roide in 1504, and the other part to Mettel, who was Fetschin Colyn who married the elder . Mettel's share thus fell to her sons Fetschin, the younger one and Wilhelm Colyn, as well as to her daughter, who married a Johann Ellerborn. Here, too, the other owners are not precisely defined.

At the beginning of the 17th century Goddart († 1677), the son of Johann von Keverberg, called Meven, Herren zu Raede, is mentioned as the owner, after which this estate was temporarily called Mevenraede. After that, the families Merode -Houfallize, von Lommessem, von Pelser - Berensberg and finally in 1784 Gerhard Heusch, a direct ancestor of the former Aachen mayor Hermann Heusch from the entrepreneurial family Hoesch / Heusch , owned the facility.

At the instigation of Gerhard Heusch, the old moated castle, which had already been taken away, was converted into a representative moated castle and inaugurated in 1787. During the Aachen Congress in 1818, the castle served as quarters for the Russian Tsar Alexander I , who with his mother Sophie Dorothee von Württemberg , his sister Anna Pavlovna and her fiancé, the Prince of Orange and future King William II. The Netherlands solemn there Held receptions. On this occasion, Emperor Franz I of Austria also temporarily lived in a part of the spacious wing.

After Gerhard Heusch's death in 1829, Rahe Castle changed hands several times. It was initially acquired by the heirs of the Nellessen family of manufacturers and then, from 1843, by Countess Henriëtte d'Oultremont de Wégimont , who used this facility as a retirement home after the death of her husband, the former Dutch King Wilhelm I , until her death in 1864. After her, the founder of the Schumag company , Friedrich Wilhelm Schumacher, acquired the palace complex and then temporarily the district administrator a. D. John von Haniel , the consular agent Conradin Startz, who also had the building completely renovated, and finally the Victor Weidtman family from 1908 . For the next four decades, the castle served as a social center for clubs, youth groups and representative events.

On July 27, 1933 , Hermann Göring attended Anneliese Cadenbach's wedding with Hermann Freiherr von Nagel at Rahe Castle, since Göring's wife Emmy was on friendly terms with Adele Weidtman.

Although the buildings survived the Second World War relatively unscathed, after the death of Adele Weidtman, due to the subsequent unclear ownership structure and a lack of investments, the entire facility visibly fell into disrepair, until it was finally acquired by the Aachen Reinsurance Company in 1979 and in keeping with the historical Building stock was restored. After this company moved to Munich in 1998, Rahe Castle was now used as a business center, but was also made accessible to the public again for conferences, concerts and festivities.

description

The first major expansion under Gerhard Heusch in 1784 to a four-wing moated castle took place using existing usable building parts and structures. For example, the 17th century bridge in front of the main entrance was included. The two-story south-facing main front stands on a higher plinth and has ten axes with arched windows that are framed with bluestone . On the two risalitartig developed means Jochen over an arched gate entrance to another level with is flat gable and hip roof . The year 1787 was engraved on one of the attached weather vanes .

The representative rooms were set up in this south wing with its entrance tower, while the west wing, which Conradin Startz added two axes during the second renovation, initially contained an orangery and later also living rooms. Heusch had the Italian Petrus Nicolaas Gagini (1745–1812) put stucco decorations both in the tower gable and inside , comparable to the work that Gagini had previously designed in the Waldenburghaus near Kettenis . Mythological figures and medallions were built into the garden room, one of which is signed with the inscription "Gagini sculpsit 1805".

Rahe Castle watchtower

The stables and coach houses were in the north wing and the east wing was used as a farm building and servants' house. Since the third renovation in 1980, office space has been set up in these two wings. The structure of the wings consists mainly of white brick and they, like the entrance tower, are closed with a hipped roof. The inner courtyard, which is enclosed by all wings and in the middle of which was originally a fountain for water supply, was also roofed in 1980 and is now used as a bright foyer.

An old park belongs to the castle, which is now a listed building. There is also a separate defensive tower-like building in the immediate vicinity , the bluestone cuboid from the 15th / 16th centuries. Century. It is believed that this building once belonged to the castle, served as a watchtower and housed the guards. Today it is a three-story residential building, which is also a listed building.

Web links

Commons : Schloss Rahe  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} website ( memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. of Schloss Rahe GmbH. 
2. ^ Hermann Friedrich Macco: Aachener Wappen und Genealogien , Vol. 1, Aachen 1907, p. 262
3. ↑ HF Macco: Aachener Wappen und Genealogien , Vol. 1, p. 166
4. ↑ Luise Freiin von Coels von der Brügghen: Die Schöffen des kgl. Stuhl , Aachen 1928, p. 204
5. ↑ Annette Fusenig: "How to invent a 'World Equestrian Festival' - The Aachen jumping, riding and driving tournament from 1924 to 1939" . Diss. Aachen 2004, p. 192. ( PDF )
6. ^ Aachen History Association: Planned assassination attempt on Göring .