Romrod Castle

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Romrod Castle, aerial photo (2015)
Romrod Castle, vertical view (2015)
Romrod Castle 2011

The Romrod Castle is a castle in Romrod in Alsfeld in Vogelsbergkreis in Hesse . The complex goes back to an older moated castle of the Lords of Romrod , which was probably built in the 12th century. Later it fell to the Landgraves of Hessen-Darmstadt , who had the castle converted into a hunting lodge.

location

The original Niederungsburg was built in the valley between Antrift and Ocherbach . An old road ran not far , which was later called the Kurz Hessen . The moat surrounding the castle was filled in around 1830 and converted into a park.

history

The first written mention of Romrod comes from the year 1197, when in a document from the Fulda monastery under Abbot Heinrich III. von Kronberg a Ludwig von Rumerot appears as a witness to a transfer of goods. The ministerial family probably belonged to the followers of the Landgraves of Thuringia , but is also attested in the Fulda area.

Heinrich von Romrod Built in the late 13th century, the Burg Herzberg and carried her to the Landgrave of Hesse to feud on. The family subsequently split into two lines, one of which was named after the new Herzfeld castle . The Romroder line became extinct in the male line around the middle of the 14th century, whereupon the heiress sold the castle to the landgraves Heinrich II and Otto . The castle was occupied by castle men and finally came into direct possession of Hessian around 1400.

In the course of the Hessian inheritance after the death of Philip the Magnanimous , Romrod Castle first came to Landgrave Ludwig IV of Hesse-Marburg . Between 1578 and 1587, he had a large part of the castle buildings demolished due to disrepair. The new buildings of this time gave the castle essentially its current appearance. After Ludwig's death in 1604, the castle fell to the Landgraviate of Hessen-Darmstadt. Until 1829 it served as the official residence. The castle was then rebuilt again, mainly from 1878–85, and served as a summer residence for the grand ducal family. In return, the nearest train station, Zell-Romrod, was given its own prince's room for the reception of the “ very high lords ”.

In the property dispute between the People's State of Hesse and the last Grand Duke of Hesse and near the Rhine , Ernst Ludwig , the castle was awarded to the former Grand Duke in the first agreement of 1919. In the second treaty of 1930, which was concluded due to the inflation of 1923 , the castle was only given to the former Grand Duke for life and thus to the People's State of Hesse one year after his death in 1938. After World War II it was used as refugee accommodation until the 1970s. It then stood empty for years and threatened to deteriorate until the German Foundation for Monument Protection acquired it in 1997 . Today the castle houses a hotel. Extensive archaeological excavations took place in the castle area between 1996 and 2002 .

Since the beginning of 2006, the seat of the Forum Network Rural Areas with an extensive program of events (including advanced training) has been located in the castle .

investment

View of the office tower.
patio

Recent excavations have provided evidence of two castles that preceded today's palace complex. Since the castle was built over and over again for over 800 years, only a few undisturbed layers were found. The previous statements on the building history were limited to observations of the existing building structure, which is why the excavation revealed largely unknown aspects of the castle's history. A wooden castle from the end of the 12th century could be proven, which was previously completely unknown. Dendrochronological examinations of the wood found in the process dated this construction phase between 1170 and 1192. Several wooden buildings and sections of the courtyard were found. It is possible that these clustered around a ring no longer detectable wooden tower instead of the later the keep . The largest documented building was in the south of the castle courtyard west of today's office tower. The walking horizon of the first castle complex was 1.70 m lower than today's courtyard. The moisture caused by this was fought with layers of wooden clubs, wickerwork and birch veins.

Also little known was the Romanesque castle building, which chronologically adjoins this wooden castle. It was built in the 12th or 13th century. Presumably, the castle buildings were initially enclosed by a curtain wall and gradually replaced. Part of this wall was exposed in the cellar of the Herrenbau. Large parts of the curtain wall were only demolished with the renovations in the 19th century with the attached farm buildings. The stone castle buildings were also located as peripheral buildings along the curtain wall, which were grouped around the central keep. This could be proven centrally in the castle courtyard. It had a diameter of about 8 m with a wall thickness of 2.70 m. Inside was a well or a cistern.

Chancellery tower with upper half-timbered construction, from the courtyard side
Steel bell from 1929 from the castle church, placed next to the church

In this construction phase, the main castle took up an almost circular area of ​​around 1,500 m². To the north of the castle was the outer bailey, which is believed to be the nucleus of the place Romrod. Today part of the outer wall of a Staufer residential tower on the northeast side of this construction phase is still preserved. It has a corner cuboid, typical for this time, of humpback cuboids and two bifor windows.

One of the older buildings in the main castle is the so-called office building with the distinctive high tower dome, a late Gothic residential tower, the upper floor of which consists of half-timbered houses. The four-storey mansion building on the west side with a stair tower and the kitchen building in the north were built by Eberhardt Baldewein during the renovation phase 1586–88 . In the immediate vicinity of the castle, several outbuildings of more recent origin have been preserved such as the stables, gate house, hunter's house, bakery, brewery and a slaughterhouse.

literature

  • Rudolf Knappe: Medieval castles in Hessen. 800 castles, castle ruins and fortifications. 3. Edition. Wartberg-Verlag, Gudensberg-Gleichen 2000, ISBN 3-86134-228-6 , p. 241.
  • Waltraud Friedrich: Excavation in the castle Romrod / Vogelsbergkreis. In: Monument Preservation & Cultural History. 1/1998, p. 27f.
  • Waltraud Friedrich: From the wooden castle of the Lords of Romrod to the summer residence of the Grand Dukes of Darmstadt. In: Denkmalpflege & Kulturgeschichte 2/2000, pp. 39–47. (online version)
  • Monika Vogt: Opening the door to modern times. Encounters with Philip the Magnanimous in Hesse. Ed .: Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen / State Office for Monument Preservation Hessen , Wiesbaden 2003, pp. 26–28.
  • Rolf Müller (Ed.): Palaces, castles, old walls. Published by the Hessendienst der Staatskanzlei, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-89214-017-0 , p. 297f.

Web links

Commons : Romrod Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Knappe 2000, p. 241.
  2. ↑ Dirk Strohmann: The reception building of the Detmold train station and its prince's room. Münster 2009, ISBN 978-3-86206-001-6 , p. 100. (= workbook of the LWL Office for Monument Preservation in Westphalia 7)
  3. ↑ Norbert Stieniczka: The deposition of the last Grand Duke of Hesse and its financial consequences. In: Bernd Heidenreich u. a. (Ed.): Crowns, Wars, Arts. The House of Hesse in the 19th and 20th centuries. Frankfurt 2009, pp. 220-261.
  4. ↑ Monument Academy: Network for Rural Areas ( Memento from July 14, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ Friedrich 2000, p. 40.

Coordinates: 50 ° 42 ′ 48.1 ″  N , 9 ° 13 ′ 9.9 ″  E