Vaalsbroek Castle

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Vaalsbroek Castle, courtyard view of the manor house

Vaalsbroek Castle (also known as Vaalsbroich and Vaalsbruch in German , Kesjteël Volsbruch in Limburg ) is a castle complex in the Raren district of Vaals, around 1.5 kilometers west of the center of Vaals. It lies in the plain below the triangle on the Vaalserberg on the Dutch side. It is surrounded by the Limburg hilly landscape not far from the foothills of the Eifel and Ardennes, around 20 kilometers east of Maastricht and around eight kilometers west of the city centerAachen .

The castle stands since June 24 2002 monument . Its roots lie in the 13th century, when a Lasshof stood at the same place . A first mansion from the 15th century was replaced by Leonard Lamberts von Cortenbach between 1733 and 1736 with a representative, three-winged castle in the classicism style . Altered again in the 1760s by the Aachen cloth manufacturer Johann Arnold von Clermont and surrounded by an English landscape garden, it is now used as a conference center, restaurant and hotel of the upper class.

history

The area around Vaals was already populated in prehistoric and Roman times as well as under the Carolingians . However , there is no evidence for the legend that in the 8th and 9th centuries there was a hunting lodge of Charlemagne on the site of today's castle . Vaalsbroek was first mentioned in a document in the 13th century, when the knight Wilhelm von Vaals owned a farm there. The possession was a Lasshof the Duchy of Limburg , which takes its name because of its location in the wet, uninteresting for agriculture broken country wore. It belonged to the lordship of Herzogenrath and was sometimes referred to as an allodial , sometimes as a fiefdom of Gronsveld .

In the 15th century Vaalsbroek, mentioned in 1479 as "hoff zo Broiche", belonged to the von Birgel family. Initially it consisted entirely of farm buildings before a mansion was added. The facility also included a brewery and a ban mill , which was first mentioned in a document in 1542. Through the marriage of Johanna, the daughter of Margaretha von Birgels and Johann Bertolf von Belvens, the facility came to Johann Krümmel von Nechtersheim in 1499. The owners' financial difficulties often resulted in sales, repurchases and pledges. In the early 17th century Maria Krümmel von Nechtersheim finally brought Vaalsbroek to her husband Andreas von Eys called Beusdal.

Drawing of the palace complex by Caspar Wolff, approx. 1780
Image of the palace complex on wallpaper in the garden room of Vaalsbroek Palace, 18th century.

In 1690 the mansion was owned by Aachen mayor Wilhelm Adolf von Eys and was uninhabitable due to the fact that he let his property go into neglect. In a foreclosure auction in 1733, Leonard Lamberts von Cortenbach bought the state legislature, including 47  hectares of land and some farms, for 28,800  Brabant guilders . The new owner had the dilapidated manor house laid down to the foundation walls and replaced by a three-wing classicist castle by 1736. His in-house architect Laurenz Mefferdatis probably provided the designs for this . The building received its final, present-day form, however, under the cloth manufacturer Johann Arnold von Clermont, who acquired it on July 21, 1761 together with the mill from Leonard Lamberts von Cortenbach's son for 52,650 Brabant guilders and then presumably from the Aachen Baroque builder Johann Joseph Couven and Joseph Moretti had it expanded into a representative country and summer residence. He had the previous mansard roof replaced by a hipped roof and the side wings extended. However, he did not make any fundamental changes to the facade. He had the formal garden to the southwest of the palace that had existed until then replaced by a landscaped park and a long avenue leading axially towards the main entrance to the northeast . This axis was continued at the rear of the castle by two rows of chestnut trees . The designs for this may have been provided by Joseph Moretti, who retained some elements of the previous garden. The reconstruction of the manor house, the green areas and the water mill took four years. Clermont had the brook canalized, a water pipe built and large ponds created as water reservoirs. In 1765 Vaalsbroek became his ancestral home, where he lived with his family until his death in 1795. In the mill were Tuchschererei , pressing plant and dyeing settled, was outsourced only the weaving . In 1786, Clermont also had a mausoleum designed by Moretti built as a family burial within sight of the castle and his deceased wife was transferred there on January 29, 1787.

After Clermont's death, his son Karl Theodor Arnold took over the property. Shortly after his death in April 1824, the castle was sold on May 12, 1824 to Friederike Veronika Keller, widow of Johann David Hasselbach. When her daughter Sophia Wilhelmina married on December 30, 1825, the plant came into the possession of her husband Karl Heinrich von Görschen , who leased the mill to the needle manufacturer Franz Ignatz Tyrell. In the meantime, he had taken over the Clermont headquarters in Vaals and in 1829 converted the mill building, which had been used as a mechanical spinning mill since 1809, into a cloth mill . In 1841 the entire complex consisted of the castle, a barn, the mill and a bakery, as well as the large garden and mausoleum. From 1849 the mill was used again as a wool spinning mill by H. J. Boventer, for which the existing buildings were probably first enlarged. In 1857 the mill was again converted into a grain mill after the Görschen castle owner had received approval from the Provincial Chamber. In order to be independent of the flowing stream water, he had a boiler house built and a steam engine installed. The mill - equipped with an iron instead of a wooden wheel since 1905 - was in operation until around 1960.

The buildings of the former wool spinning mill were used as apartments from the end of the 19th century. At that time, Vaalsbroek Castle belonged to Friedrich Wilhelm von Massenbach. He had become the owner in 1886 through his marriage to Frieda von der Mosel, a daughter of Louisa von Görschen. His family owned the property until 1944. In that year the Dutch government confiscated it as enemy property after it had been used as an officer accommodation for the German army during the German occupation in World War II . In 1946 the castle complex came into the possession of the Royal Dutch State Mines , who renovated the castle in 1953 and converted it into a training and further education facility. In 1957 the property was transferred to the Official Fund of the State Mines ( Dutch Stichting Beambtenfonds van de Staatsmijnen ). Since she only used the castle building, she sold the mill complex to the tenant at the time. In 1974 the Stiftung Fonds voor Sociale Instellingen te Heerlen acquired the manor house and in 1977 bought the Clermont mausoleum before it also took over the former mill in 1978. Until 1980 she restored the mausoleum and the manor house, in order to use the latter as a conference center. During the work, some changes from the 1950s were also dismantled. The mill was left to its own devices for the time being. Only when it was taken over by Bohemen Vastgoed in 1988 and converted into a hotel-restaurant, its deterioration was stopped. For the new use, not only were the existing buildings restored, but a modern extension was also added. The historic grinding plant was preserved and was completed again, but not put back into operation. After a short time, the mill had to be further expanded for hotel operations, which Dolce International joined on March 1, 1999 . The business was now part of the Bilderberg hotel chain, and the restaurant in the historic watermill is run as a gourmet restaurant.

description

In addition to the manor house, the Vaalsbroek castle complex includes a listed half-timbered barn (now used as a residential building), the Clermont family mausoleum and a historic water mill with modern hotel extensions. The buildings are surrounded by a landscaped park .

Manor house, courtyard facade

Mansion

The manor house is a whitewashed brick building with a slate hipped roof, which has small dormer windows - some with ox eyes  - and a roof turret from probably 1780 with a clock and weather vane . It consists of a central wing and two lower side wings, which connect to the central wing at a right angle to the northeast and thus give the manor house a U-shaped floor plan. The side wings previously served as utility wings and housed stables, haylofts and staff quarters . The tenant's apartment was later also located there. The paved courtyard , enclosed by the wings, is closed on the northeast side by a low, convex curved wall with a wrought-iron grille. In the middle of the lattice there is a double-winged gate between two high pillars made of Namur bluestone .

Manor house, garden facade

The strictly symmetrical courtyard facade of the central building shows three storeys, which are divided into five axes by segmented arched windows with blue border . The cornice has a toothed frieze . A monumental, two-flight flight of stairs with an artistically forged railing leads to the segmented main entrance on the first floor. Above this is a small balcony with a wrought iron parapet , which shows the initials "CHvG" for the owner Carl Heinrich von Görschen. In the retaining wall of the staircase is the entrance to the ground floor with a brick vault , which is used as a cellar. Among other things, there is the former castle kitchen with a fireplace and ribbed vault . Some of the natural stone blocks in the walls may still come from the previous building from the 15th century. The rear, seven-axis garden facade of the mansion has only two storeys because the surrounding area is higher there. The first floor is on this side at ground level. In the central axis it shows a portico supported by Tuscan columns, which supports a balcony with a wrought iron parapet.

Inside the manor house there are reconstructed stucco ceilings . The restored garden room, a salon with valuable, painted linen wallpaper from the 18th century, is particularly important in terms of art history . They were in very poor condition in the 1970s and were restored from 1978 to 1980. The wallpapers show depictions of trade, fishing and rural life, but were probably not made for Vaalsbroek, but for another house.

mausoleum

Mausoleum, interior view

A narrow path leads from the park to the mausoleum of the von Clermont family, which was restored in 1978, to the south of the manor house. The brick building has a rectangular floor plan and is surrounded by a hawthorn hedge . Its arched entrance is on the representatively designed northeast side. This is designed in the neoclassical style and clad with Namur bluestone. On both sides of the entrance there are niches flanked by rusticated pilasters with stone vases in Louis-Seize style. A carved triangular gable with the relief of Clermont's coat of arms surrounded by tendrils rises above a Doric entablature in the central axis at the level of the tent roof .

Inside is the crypt of the builder Johann Arnold von Clermont and his wife Maria Elisabeth Emminghaus. Her grave is crowned by an obelisk , the stuccoed base of which shows the alliance coat of arms of Clermont / Emminghaus. Further stucco decorations can be found, for example, on an arch of the barrel-vaulted ceiling. Marble tablets commemorate the two deceased. The mausoleum was designed not only for Johann Arnold von Clermont and his wife, but also for other family members of the couple. That is why there are three rows on each of the two long sides with seven burial niches in which Clermont's children and grandchildren are buried.

Castle Park

Landscaped garden

Most of the Vaalsbroeker Schlosspark lies to the southwest behind the manor house and is based on an originally symmetrical garden. Today it is designed as an English landscape garden. An avenue around 130 meters long leads in the central axis of the manor house from the northeast to the lattice gate of the courtyard. The axis started by it is continued in the landscape garden by a circular water basin with a fountain and was previously extended by two rows of chestnut trees . Some of these trees, planted in the 18th century, are still standing today. The straight path running between them is flanked about halfway by two more circular water basins. 1770 gardens of the castle were 20 to 30  Are large, but were later extended to five to six hectares. According to a letter written in 1774 by the poet Johann Georg Jacobi , a brother of Johann Arnold von Clermont's brother-in-law, the palace gardens had hollyhock-covered trees, waterfalls and artificial grottos . A labyrinth , a bathhouse and an ice cellar are also occupied.

Directly to the south of the manor is a former fish pond, which already existed in the 18th century. Another large and almost rectangular pond is east of the manor house. It spreads to the water mill and is fed by the Zieversbach. Both ponds used to be used to supply the castle and mill with water.

Mill

Watermill with a mill pond

The 18th century watermill is northeast of the manor house. It is a two-storey, whitewashed brick building and, together with the residential building, forms an elongated, L-shaped building complex with a slate-covered gable roof . The inscription "ANNO 1765 IH" in the keystone of the southern entrance door testifies to its construction under Johann Arnold von Clermont. The door frame, like the window frames, is made of bluestone. A tall, rectangular chimney made of red-brown bricks is evidence that the mill was once operated with steam.

To the east of the historic mill there is a multi-wing building complex that was built for the hotel and restaurant in the late 1980s. The modern buildings were adapted to the existing structure in terms of shape, size, design and materials used. Your brick masonry standing on a dark base and is bright whitewashed. They are connected to another modern building complex north of the mill via a bridge. This youngest part of the castle is reserved for the hotel business.

literature

  • JF van Agt: South Limburg. Vaals, Wittem en Slenaken (= De Nederlandse Monuments van Geschiedenis en Kunst ). Staatsuitgeverij, 's-Gravenhage 1983, ISBN 90-12-04096-5 , pp. 131-161 ( digitized version ).
  • Marcel Bauer et al .: On the way in Couven's footsteps. Grenz-Echo Verlag, Eupen 2005, ISBN 90-5433-187-9 , pp. 206-210.
  • Jacqueline Depierreux (Ed.): Schlösser an der Maas. Tourist Association of the Province of Liège u. a., Liège 2006, p. 81.
  • W. Groneman: Kastelen in Zuid-Limburg. Vereiniging voor Vreemdelingenverkeer Beek, Beek 1960, pp. 50-51.
  • Wim Hupperetz, Ben Olde Meierink, Ronald Rommes (eds.): Kastelen in Limburg. Burchten en landhuizen (1000-1800). Matrijs, Utrecht 2005, ISBN 90-5345-269-9 , pp. 462-463.
  • Josef Liese: The classic Aachen. Volume 1: Johann Arnold von Clermont (1728-1795), his family and his work in the “Vaalser Paradies” (= Aachen contributions to local history. No. 17). Mayersche, Aachen 1936, pp. 41, 74, 87, 91, 127, 138, 149.
  • Manfred Nimax: Moated castles and aristocratic residences in Dutch South Limburg between Aachen and Maastricht. Nimax, Aachen 2008, ISBN 978-3-936342-71-0 , pp. 9, 11-15.
  • Carina Ramakers, Angie Müller: "SPERO INVIDIAM". On the trail of the Clermont family legacy. RWTH Aachen, Department of Monument Preservation, Aachen 2009 ( excerpts online ).
  • Ronald Stenvert et al .: Monuments in Nederland. Limburg. Uitgeverij Waanders, Zwolle 2003, ISBN 90-400-9623-6 , pp. 374-375 ( digitized version ).

Web links

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

Footnotes

  1. ^ W. Groneman: Kastelen in Zuid-Limburg. 1960, p. 51.
  2. ↑ a b W. Hupperetz, BO Meierink, R. Rommes (Ed.): Kastelen in Limburg. Burchten en landhuizen (1000-1800). 2005, p. 462.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j C. Ramakers, A. Müller: "SPERO INVIDIAM". On the trail of the Clermont family legacy. 2009 ( online ).
  4. ↑ a b c d e J. F. van Agt: Zuid-Limburg. Vaals, Wittem en Slenaken 1983, p. 131.
  5. ↑ Ramakers / Müller date the construction of the manor house to 1486 and name Johann Krümmel von Nechtersheim as the builder, while JF van Agt states that Johann von Krümmel only came into the possession of Vaalsbroek in 1499.
  6. ↑ Adolph Vaessen: History of Vaals. Contributions from the records, which Kaplan A. Vaessen edited and compiled according to the documents collected. In: Vaalser Anzeiger. 1923, 1924, 1925 ( online ( memento of the original from March 4, 2016 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 note. ). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vaals.de.vu
  7. ↑ J. Liese: The classic Aachen. Volume 1: Johann Arnold von Clermont (1728-1795), his family and his work in the “Vaalser Paradies” 1936, p. 87.
  8. ↑ a b M. Bauer et al .: On the way in Couven's footsteps. 2005, p. 206.
  9. ↑ Stenvert et al. date the creation of the new landscape garden to the time before 1799. Cf. R. Stenvert et al .: Monuments in Nederland. Limburg. 2003, p. 374. However, the tranchot map from 1803 still shows the formal garden.
  10. ↑ a b R. Stenvert et al .: Monuments in Nederland. Limburg. 2003, p. 374.
  11. ↑ J. Depierreux: Castles on the Meuse. 2006, p. 109.
  12. ↑ J. Liese: The classic Aachen. Volume 1: Johann Arnold von Clermont (1728-1795), his family and his work in the “Vaalser Paradies” 1936, p. 41.
  13. ^ LAV NRW Duisburg, City of Aachen H1825, Certificate No. 287 , accessed on July 26, 2016.
  14. ↑ a b c d J. F. van Agt: Zuid-Limburg. Vaals, Wittem en Slenaken 1983, p. 135.
  15. ↑ At the time the steam drive was set up, different information was available. While Ronald Stenvert et al. specify the year 1860, JF van Agt points out that a cadastral plan from 1841 already shows the striking chimney for the boiler system. See R. Stenvert et al .: Monuments in Nederland. Limburg. 2003, p. 375 and JF van Agt: Zuid-Limburg. Vaals, Wittem en Slenaken 1983, p. 141.
  16. ^ R. Stenvert et al .: Monuments in Nederland. Limburg. 2003, p. 375.
  17. ↑ a b J. F. van Agt: Zuid-Limburg. Vaals, Wittem en Slenaken 1983, p. 144.
  18. ↑ a b c J. F. van Agt: Zuid-Limburg. Vaals, Wittem en Slenaken 1983, p. 136.
  19. ↑ a b M. Bauer et al .: On the way in Couven's footsteps. 2005, p. 208.
  20. ^ JF van Agt: Zuid-Limburg. Vaals, Wittem en Slenaken 1983, p. 141.
  21. ^ JF van Agt: Zuid-Limburg. Vaals, Wittem en Slenaken 1983, p. 132.
  22. ↑ Entry of the garden equipment in the national list of monuments of the Netherlands , accessed on July 26, 2016.

Coordinates: 50 ° 46 ′ 3.5 ″  N , 5 ° 59 ′ 40 ″  E