Randau Castle
Coordinates: 52 ° 3 ′ 30.8 ″ N , 11 ° 43 ′ 40.5 ″ E
The Randau Castle is a castle-like mansion in Magdeburg district Randau-Calenberge .
Early history - Randau Castle and Knights
Already in the Middle Stone Age around 5000-4000 BC. The valley sand island north of Randau was inhabited. Readings on the "Göbs" from around 600 to 800 AD could come from a Slavic settlement around a castle wall.
After it was destroyed, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa settled the "Elbenauer Werder " with Dutch colonists around 1160 . On this large island between the Stromelbe and Alter Elbe in the southeast of Magdeburg was the strategically important Randau Castle , which was first mentioned in a document in a comparison on May 28, 1236 between the monastery of Our Lady and Iwan von Dornburg. Thegenardus von Randowe , who was probably one of the first owners of the castle at Randau auf dem Göbs, is named there as a witness . How long this castle existed and whether it emerged from the Slavic settlement or the castle wall is not understandable.
In the late 13th century , during a feud between the Magdeburg nobility and the powerful bishop and sovereign of Magdeburg , the lords of Randau undertook raids and looting in the area from here and also threatened shipping on the Elbe. In 1297 the troops of the nearby Hanseatic City of Magdeburg captured the castle and destroyed it. The Magdeburg Schöppenchronik mentions the destruction with only one sentence: "bis sinen tiden wunnen dusse borger dat hus to Randauwe and breken dat und vorstordent" [= in his (Archbishop Burchard II's ) times these citizens conquered the house in Randau and destroyed it ] . There is also the vivid legend of the ancestor of the old Randau Castle , which is one of the most beautiful local sagas in the Magdeburg area.
In the 18th century , traces of the castle with a triple moat system, a large church with a cloister and several buildings were allegedly seen in Randau. The remains of the castle have been preserved to this day as a ground monument "on the Göbs". (For a current view of the traces of the Randau castle ruins in the field on the "Göbs" see web links )
Randau under Alvensleben rule (1391-1850)
In 1391, Randau Castle and Gut were acquired by the Alvensleben family from Rogätz as an archbishop's fief. When the Rogätzer line of Alvensleben died out in 1553, the castle fell to Andreas von Alvensleben , who introduced the Reformation in Randau. His great-nephew Kuno von Alvensleben , canon of Magdeburg, envoy of the archbishopric and member of the learned fruitful society , decided after 1609 to build a new castle, which was built in 1631 together with the house chapel, the Magdeburg canons' curia and a valuable library when the Town fell victim to the flames through Tilly . From 1693 to 1724 the manor came into the possession of the von Pfuel through a debt claim against the von Alvensleben with all associated rights and rights .
It was not until the “Minister Alvensleben in London”, Johann Friedrich Karl von Alvensleben (1714–1795), who moved the estate further south after 1742 (to the area of today's Randau Castle), and built a beautiful new one on a hill facing the Elbe House and surrounded it - still hanging on the Baroque - with geometric gardens. His successor, Gebhard Johann Achaz von Alvensleben , created the classicist central project and added the side buildings. The other useful buildings, Dutch works, windmills, colonist houses, company apartments and the preacher's widow's house were the work of the minister. He basically gave the complex its present form. A wide avenue in the central axis was oriented towards the Magdeburg Cathedral. Interrupted by forests, the view wandered over the Elbarme all around. In the next generation the economy went downhill: in 1850 Randau was sold, and around 1880 the manor house was demolished. Large parts of the property were sold by two subsequent owners and large forests were cut down.
Randau owned by the Hennige family (1863–1928)
In 1863 the complex , known as a manor , was sold to the Magdeburg entrepreneur and councilor Paul Hennige . Hennige tried to buy back the lost property and so restore the original scope of the business. In 1885 the "Randau Castle" was built on the foundations of the old manor house. The building has a classical shape. It has an outside staircase and pillar-supported round arches. In addition to various farm buildings, the palace is followed by a spacious palace park. In the park there were originally the buildings typical of such parks, such as an obelisk , a roundabout , bridge, aviary , greenhouse, an earth grave and an observation tower.
In the period around 1890 further farm buildings were built on Schloßstraße , some of which have been preserved to this day.
Randau Castle today
1968–1984 the castle was used as a primary school and kindergarten, after which it became a "station for young tourists". In 1985 and 1992 the building was partially restored. Initially, the establishment of an education center was planned. Due to the bankruptcy of the investor Wyborski, who suddenly and unexpectedly died on April 30, 2001, the project failed. Today the castle is still empty.
Personalities who have worked on site
- Andreas I von Alvensleben (1495–1565) was lord of the castle Calvörde , Eichenbarleben Castle and Randau Castle, he was a supporter of the Reformation
- Gebhard Johann Achaz von Alvensleben (1764–1840), landlord of Randau and Woltersdorf. His daughter Amalie (1792-1854) married the later Prussian Prime Minister and Minister of War, General Ernst von Pfuel , on September 11, 1832 at Gut Randau .
literature
- Udo von Alvensleben-Wittenmoor: Alvensleben castles and country houses . Dortmund 1960
- Max Hennige: Randau - estate and village in the past and present . Commissions-Verlag Ulrich Putze successor / Hans Goltz, Munich 1913
- State capital Magdeburg, city planning office: Village renewal plan Randau , 61/1997
- City of Magdeburg, City Planning Office: Monument Preservation Plan of the City of Magdeburg , 2001
- Kathrin Jäger: Magdeburg - Architecture and Urban Development , 2001, ISBN 3-929330-33-4