Vöhl Castle

The Vöhl Castle was a medieval, in the 17th century in the style of the Baroque extended castle in Vöhl in Waldeck-Frankenberg , Hessen ( Germany ). It was demolished in 1845 and only small remains (the castle fountain, a turret in the remains of the castle wall, a coat of arms stone) remind of it.

history

In 1381/83 Thile I. Wolff von Gudenberg became the owner of the Itter estate, as the Counts of Waldeck and the Landgraves of Hesse pledged their respective shares to him. Thile moved into Itterburg , now called himself "Wolff von Gudenberg zu Itter", and began building a new castle on the southern outskirts of Vöhl, which he then made his residence. The complex, including the associated farm buildings, extended over several hundred meters from today's Richard-Heinzerling-Weg to the office building built in 1588.

In 1542 the Waldeckers, and in 1562 also the Landgraves of Hesse, redeemed their pledge - both against the resolute resistance of Wolff von Gudenberg, who considered themselves expropriated as a result and only moved from Vöhl to Höringhausen after a long legal dispute . After that, the castle complex in Vöhl was used by landgrave officials .

In the period that followed, Vöhl and the Itter rulership changed hands several times due to the division of states and inheritance in the House of Hesse , especially during the Thirty Years' War . On May 14, 1639 - the rule Itter belonged just to Hesse-Darmstadt - transferred Landgrave Ludwig V them as paréage to his brother Philip , who, however, continue in his castle in Butzbach resided. After Philip's death in 1643, Itter's rule fell back to the Landgrave in Darmstadt. These changes of ownership had no positive effect on the condition of the castle in Vöhl.

In 1661, after the death of Landgrave Georg II , his son and successor Ludwig VI. the office of lordship Itter with the capital Vöhl as Paragium his younger brother Georg III. After the Wolff was driven out of Gudenberg and after the Thirty Years' War, the old castle was no longer in good condition. George III had it thoroughly renovated in 1663 and expanded into a residence in the Baroque style . At the same time he had a castle surrounded by a moat built on the Lauterbach farm . These two facilities served him alternately as a residence. Georg died on July 19, 1676 in Hof Lauterbach without male descendants and Vohl fell back to the main Hesse-Darmstadt line. The court in Vöhl was dissolved and the household appliances were brought to Darmstadt. At the time of George III. Hessen-Itter is remembered today by his wedding coat of arms, the castle fountain with the initials of the landgrave and his wife, a turret in the remains of the castle wall and a coat of arms stone, all of which can be seen in the castle park.

In 1691, under Landgrave Ernst Ludwig , the Itter reign was pledged to Johann Matthäus Koch von Gailenbach for 80,000 guilders . It is not known whether he had any further changes made to the castle in Vöhl. In 1695 Ernst Ludwig redeemed the pledge. The castle complex in Vöhl became a landgrave's dairy .

Demolition and today's condition

Town hall of the municipality of Vöhl

Old stone house

Forestry Office Vöhl

In 1845 the castle was demolished as dilapidated. Today only sparse remains remind of it. The stones from the old complex were reused in the construction of new buildings:

• Today's town hall of the municipality of Vöhl (Schloßstrasse 1) was built in the 1840s from stones from the old castle as the seat of the district court of Vöhl .
• The so-called stone house with wedding room was also built from stones from the earlier castle, but initially as a stable; the community acquired the house in the course of the village renewal around 1990 and rebuilt it.
• The current parish hall of the Protestant church was built in the mid-1840s as a school and teacher's apartment from the stones of the old castle.

Two other buildings in Vöhl are remnants of the former palace complex:

• The forestry office (Schloßstrasse 4) was built in 1386 as a farm building for the Wolff von Gudenberg's first castle in Vöhl. After the end of the court of George III. it became a manorial dairy farm. From 1808 it was the official residence of the tax officer (recipe), from 1866 the official residence of the Prussian chief forester, and from 1930 also the office of the Vöhl chief forestry and the Prussian forestry office.
• Today's construction yard of the community was part of the dairy yard; in the 19th century it was probably the seat of the district council.

In the 1990s, the castle park was prepared, paths and a natural stage were created. The castle park festival takes place there every year at the end of June.

Coordinates: 51 ° 12 ′ 13 ″  N , 8 ° 56 ′ 47 ″  E

literature

• Walter Kloppenburg: The historical development of the community Vöhl am Edersee. In: Mein Waldeck , 1938, 5.
• Walter Kloppenburg: The 800 year old Vöhl in the Itter reign. In: Frankenberger Heimatkalender , 1950.
• Walter Kloppenburg: The market town of Vöhl. Formerly a small residence in the Darmstadt hinterland. In: Hessenland, home magazine for Kurhessen, Marburg, April 20, 1963.
• Walter Kloppenburg: Vöhl - a small residence in the hinterland. A contribution to the building history of the market town of Vöhl. In: Mein Waldeck, 1994, 13.
• Christian Paul: Vöhl has an interesting story. In: Mein Waldeck , 1988, 19.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kloppenburg starts the construction of a permanent house in Vöhl by Thile Wolff von Gudenberg as early as 1382, but this has not been proven. (Walter Kloppenburg: Vöhl - a small residence in the hinterland. A contribution to the building history of the market town of Vöhl. In: Mein Waldeck 13, 1994, pp. 1-2.)
2. ↑ Matthäus Koch von Gailenbach the Younger (1610–1680) and Johannes Koch von Gailenbach (1614–1693), sons of the wealthy Augsburg merchant Matthäus Koch (1581–1633), who lived in 1622 a. a. the Gailenbach Castle in Edenbergen at Augsburg had bought were in 1653 by Emperor Ferdinand III. ennobled ("Koch von Gailenbach") and in 1654 accepted into the Augsburg patriciate . Johann studied in Leipzig, made a name for himself as a mathematician at the Viennese imperial court and took over the manor in 1669. His son Johann Matthäus (1646–1713) was a member of the secret council in Augsburg from 1701–1710. ( Augsburger Stadtlexikon ( Memento des original dated October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ) 
3. ↑ Vöhl Forestry Office. In: Overview of the Hessian forest offices. Hessen-Forst, 2015, accessed on May 12, 2015 .