Uster Castle

Uster Castle
	Uster Castle, viewed from the southeast (November 2012)
Creation time :	around 1000
Castle type :	Höhenburg , conversion to a castle
Conservation status:	Receive
Standing position :	Free nobles
Construction:	Cuboid and brick
Place:	Uster
Geographical location	47 ° 20 '43.8 " N , 8 ° 43' 4.4" O Coordinates: 47 ° 20 '43.8 " N , 8 ° 43' 4.4" E ; CH1903: 696 666 / 244 636
Height:	496 m above sea level M.

The castle model on sale in the Swiss city of Uster in the canton of Zurich .

location

The castle complex with the adjoining buildings is located on the western foothills of a long hill reaching to Oberuster at 496 m above sea level. M. Höhe and is the landmark of Uster.

history

middle Ages

The origins of the first fortification of the castle hill are still unclear. Around the year 1100, the Counts of Winterthur are said to have built a castle complex in the midst of the rulership of the Counts of Rapperswil , another source mentions the first complex around the year 1000, which could go back to the establishment of the " Alt-Rapperswiler ". A part of the Alt-Rapperswil goods complex in the Zurich Oberland , which originated from the Lords of Uster, went to the Barons of Bonstetten on the occasion of inheritance disputes around the year 1200 - Uster Castle, basic and court rights in Kirchuster, Nossikon, Sulzbach and Wermatswil - although the Counts of Kyburg also tried to assert feudal rights.

The oldest parts of the residential tower , which can still be seen today, date back to around 1200. Its use by Ritter von Uster, first mentioned in 1249 - servants of the Barons von Eschenbach- Schnabelburg - has not been proven, but is not unlikely. In 1267, the Lords of Bonstetten received Uster as a fief from Count Rudolf von Habsburg , who had administered the castle and lordship around 1264 for the underage heiress of the Counts of Kyburg. The fiefdom also included jurisdiction over the Ustermer Hof Nossikon and part of Kirchuster, the rural settlement at the foot of the castle hill. Whether the castle complex , together with the Greifensee rulership , was pledged by Countess Elisabeth von Rapperswil around 1300 is not certain. During the Appenzell War (1401-29), Schwyz troops occupied the castle complex . For this reason, Johannes von Bonstetten concluded a castle rights treaty with the city of Zurich in September 1407 , which was able to occupy the castle with troops in times of war. In it, as a Habsburg tenant, in the event of armed conflict between Zurich and Habsburg Austria, Zurich assured Herr von Bonstetten a neutral position. Another source mentions the destruction of the castle by the Eight Old Places in the Old Zurich War in 1444 , but this may be due to a mix-up with the destruction of Greifensee - see the murder of Greifensee . In 1474 Habsburg Austria renounced feudal sovereignty over Uster, and the rights went to Zurich (rule of Greifensee).

Uster Castle 1742 on an etching by David Herrliberger
Uster Castle in the early 18th century, detail from a sepia drawing
Uster around 1900, the castle on the left, the pan handle in the background
Aerial photograph by Walter Mittelholzer from 1933
Aerial view, castle with vegetable garden from 1919

Modern times

«In 1492 the castle at Usteri burned to ground. The Bonstetten let the worn-out masons noisy and built a beautiful house by Holzwerk dernebend ». After a fire struck this building as well in 1526, Batt von Bonstetten had the tower " thrown off at the top and you can sit on it ".

By inheritance, the castle came into the possession of Ludwig von Diesbach in 1534 , followed by several changes of ownership within a few years. One of the next owners, Hans Vogler, sold all of the rulership rights still belonging to the castle to the city of Zurich in 1544. From 1560 to 1663 the complex came to the barons of Hohensax and saw a number of other changes of ownership over the next two centuries. Around 1663, for example, the Glarus peasant nobility moved to the castle with Christoph Tschudi, and after further changes of ownership, the complex gradually fell into disrepair. Captain Schärer von Zürich had it restored in 1752 and expanded it with living quarters. In the 19th century, the property changed hands more than two dozen times. In 1852 the continuously expanded palace complex became the seat of the district administration . Since 1858 the facility had been in the hands of the Zurich family Escher . The textile manufacturer Jakob Heusser-Staub bought the castle complex in 1916, had it restored in 1917 and donated the property including the economic buildings to the city of Uster as a foundation.

For several decades the castle complex was used by the cantonal farmer's school; since September 1st, 1995 from the private castle school in Uster.

Winery and palace gardening

As early as the Middle Ages, viticulture was practiced in Uster , especially on the southern castle hill, which was first mentioned in a document in 1532, when vines were grown in the "blind wood " and the " räbwerk not children nor wiberwerk " was. On the tithe plan of 1678, the castle hill appears to be planted with vines to the south, and in 1791 an English visitor wrote that Uster Castle stood " on a high rock that is planted with vines up to the summit ". In the 19th century, the vines grew to over forty hectares , which by 1960 had melted down to just five ares and only gained more acreage since 1979.

The castle gardening of the schools continues to be maintained privately and can be visited on weekdays, as well as the knight's hall on Sundays from July to October. In the castle restaurant you have a wide view over Uster and Greifensee to Pfannenstiel and Adlisberg .

Remains of the former surrounding wall and an outbuilding used as a barn
Castle garden and winery

investment

Uster Castle

View from Schlossweg 2012

Basic data

Place:

Uster

Canton:

Zurich

Country:

Switzerland

Altitude :

496 m

Coordinates :

696666 / 244630

Use:

Observation tower

Accessibility:

Observation tower open to the public

Tower data

Construction time :

about 1000

Client :	Count of Winterthur
Building material :	stone

Last modification:

1918

Total height :

30.00 m

Viewing platform:

19.00 m

The oldest parts of the complex that can be seen today date back to around 1200, when a residential tower with a side length of 11 meters and walls up to 3.4 meters thick was built on the hill in the immediate vicinity of the church of Uster . Fires in 1492 destroyed the residential tower and parts of the castle complex, and in 1526 the associated residential building, and so the complex was rebuilt in 1529 as a representative castle and temporary seat of the Zurich bailiffs . The still usable wall base was provided with a new superstructure, mostly made of timber .

Probably between 1560 and 1663 the tower received a new superstructure with stepped gables , a narrow staircase was built on its south side. At that time, the complex was probably also surrounded by a circular wall with battlements . Under the changing owners, the complex was further redesigned: in 1752, two one-story buildings were built on the tower, which is said to have stood empty for a century.

The Uster apple was first planted at Uster Castle in 1760. The variety came to Uster from Holland.

In 1852, a two-story new building was built around the tower as the seat of the district administration. The dilapidated tower, which served as the district administration's prison, was partially demolished, the stepped gable was provided with a crenellated crown, on which a high, sheet-metal pavilion was enthroned. In 1917 Jakob Heusser-Staub had the last redesign done so far, whereby he had the upper half of the palace torn down almost to the height of the annexes and reconstructed with a new superstructure based on a template from the 18th century, again with stepped gables. The residential wing built around it was comprehensively renewed, which corresponds to the current appearance of the palace complex.

Lower stairs
Middle stairs
Upper stairs
Viewing platform
View from the northeast
Tower construction, view from the west

literature

Thomas Bitterli-Waldvogel: Swiss Castle Guide . Basel / Berlin 1995. ISBN 3-7245-0865-4
Erwin Eugster: Noble Territorial Policy in Eastern Switzerland. Church foundations in the field of tension of earlier sovereign displacement politics. Zurich 1991. ISBN 3-9052-7868-5
Werner Meyer (Red.): Castles of Switzerland, Volume 5: Cantons of Zurich and Schaffhausen . Zurich 1982.
Hans Martin Gubler: The art monuments of the canton of Zurich, Bd. III: The districts of Pfäffikon and Uster . Basel 1978.
Heinrich Zeller-Werdmüller: Zurich castles in communications from the Antiquarian Society in Zurich , 48./49. Vintage. Zurich 1894–1895.