Unterbessenbach Castle

Unteressenbach estate

Castle chapel

Coat of arms of the Barons of Gemmingen above the courtyard entrance (with the year 1841)

The Unterbessenbach Castle is a monument in Unterbessenbach , a district of the municipality of Bessenbach in the Aschaffenburg district in Bavaria . The federal motorway 3 and the river Aschaff run in the immediate vicinity .

architecture

The castle is a classicist building with a gabled central projectile and side wings. It forms a structural unit with its park and its two bodies of water as well as the Unterbessenbach estate and the castle chapel integrated there .

history

The predecessor of today's castle was built in 1577 by the Lords of Hettersdorf , who can be traced back to Bessenbach in 1326, as the manor of the estate . The lords of Hettersdorf often held the office of forester in the Spessart and rose to the baron rank in 1658 . Unterbessenbach was the administrative center of their surrounding free float . In the 18th century the male members of the family preferred to perform functions in the cities in the service of the electors and archbishops of Mainz and to leave the management of their own property to more or less capable administrators. Nevertheless they did not succeed in emancipating themselves from Kurmainz, so that Kurmainz was able to enforce his sovereignty over Unterbessenbach in 1790.

Franz von Hettersdorf, who was said to have a passion for gambling, leased the property in Unterbessenbach in 1804 to his administrator Sartorius , which led to bankruptcy of the property on November 22, 1806. It was then leased to the Aschaffenburg businessman Alois Dessauer . In 1820 the estate was sold to Count Fugger -Kirchheim- Hoheneck . Philipp Karl von Fugger sold the estate on August 13, 1841 to Baron Gustav Johann von Gemmingen-Hagenschieß (1808–1895).

The new owner built the now existing Unterbessenbach Castle on the small hill southwest of the old manor house in 1842, which he and his family moved into in 1843. The neglected castle chapel , which for years only served as a storage room, grain depot and wine press room, was converted into a little church for Evangelical Lutheran services in 1853.

The von Gemmingen-Hagenschieß family later called themselves von Gemmingen-Steinegg again . Oskar-Friedrich von Gemmingen-Steinegg (1838–1918), son of Gustav Johann, created the seven ponds in the forest and the ponds in the castle park. His son Hans Dietrich (1869–1958) had the palace extensively renovated in 1907. For the year 1913, the chronicles report a stay by Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria , who spent a few days with Hans Dietrich Freiherr von Gemmingen.

In 1937, Albrecht Dietrich von Gemmingen-Steinegg took over the previously leased farm, which at the time employed around 50 to 60 people. However, he was drafted into military service as early as 1939. After the campaign in the west he managed the estate again for a short time before he was drafted again. He died in 1946 as a Soviet prisoner of war. His widow Luise (Lui) Freiin von der Recke continued the estate as a tenant in his place. After Hans Dietrich's death in 1958, it came to Albrecht Dietrich's son, Albrecht Viktor von Gemmingen-Steinegg (* 1943), who was still a minor at the time and who, after completing his studies as a qualified agricultural engineer, effectively redesigned the business from the 1970s. Eleven hectares of the estate had to be ceded for the construction of the nearby A3 .

The castle is still privately owned by the von Gemmingen-Steinegg family .

The Evangelical Parish of Goldbach uses the chapel today under the patronage “ From the Good Shepherd ” every 14 days for Sunday services and on certain festive days, for weddings and baptisms.

literature

Handbook of Historic Places in Germany, Vol. 7, p. 760.
Maria Heitland: Family chronicle of the barons of Gemmingen. Continuation of the chronicles from 1895 and 1925/26 , Elztal 1991, pp. 22–38.

Web links

Single receipts

49.988354 9.24926Coordinates: 49 ° 59 ′ 18.1 ″ N , 9 ° 14 ′ 57.3 ″ E

[1] Evangelical Church Community Goldbach: Divine service plan

[2] Evangelical Church Community Goldbach: Our Churches