Wartenstein Castle
Wartenstein Castle is a former castle north of Kirn in Rhineland-Palatinate . The castle was built around 1357 above the Hahnenbachtal in the district of Oberhausen bei Kirn and is now used as an excursion destination and information point for the Soonwald-Nahe nature park .
history
In 1357 knight Tilmann von Steinkallenfels , the main heir of the Heinzenberg possessions, built a new castle, called Wartel , between Kallenfels and Hennweiler . The castle stretched almost 130 meters over the ridge. Shortly after the building was wearing Knight Tilmann in 1359 the castle for 800 guilders the Trier Archbishop Boemund to feud on. In 1381 she got married to Tilmann's son-in-law, Dietrich I von Manderscheid , who, however , had to give it up in 1409 in the course of a feud . In 1414 Johann von Schwarzenberg was enfeoffed with the castle by Archbishop Werner of Trier .
Part of the castle remained in the family's possession until it died out in 1583, after which the son-in-law of the last Schwarzenberg, Johann von Warsberg, was enfeoffed with the castle, the other part went to Iliane von Thune, widow of the knight Johann von Löwenstein and in 1428 1441 to their son Wolfram. In 1461, Dietrich Herr zu Manderscheid and Dietrich Graf zu Manderscheid, Herr zu Dune and Sleiden sold their half of the Wartenstein Castle to Elector Johann von Trier, Count Adolf von Nassau-Saarbrücken and Wirich von Daun-Falkenstein. In the years 1461 to 1469, various structural changes were made to the walls, the wine press house, the stables and the bridge. The jointly appointed bailiff was Johann von Schwarzenberg. In 1464, after the collapse of Heinzenberg Castle, the chapel there was relocated to Wartenstein with the approval of the Pope. The share of the Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken and Wirich von Daun was acquired by the Lord of Kriechingen and Pittigen, whose son Johann was enfeoffed in 1519 by Archbishop Richard von Trier.
In 1566 the castle was forcibly occupied by Count Sebastian von Falkenstein, Herr zu Oberstein and Bruch. When Ludwig von Schwarzenberg died in 1583, Kurtrier withdrew all shares. But Johann von Warsberg, a son-in-law of Ludwig, raised an objection and in 1585 demanded that the entire castle be enfeoffed. He received this mortgage, but had to grant Kurtrier the right to pay homage, the right to open, the military sovereignty, the travel agent and the appraisal (property tax). At that time, Wartenstein was the center of an office of Weiden with the villages of Weiden , Herborn , Hahnenbach and shares in Niederhosenbach .
Apart from the remains of a residential keep, there are no more structures from the original complex. In place of the former curtain wall, there is now the residential palace, a two-storey stone building, built in 1704 and 1728. The community of Kirn-Land took over the property in 1993 as part of a usufruct and heritable building lease. Extensive renovation work on the partly ruinous building fabric was carried out in the following years.
In the spring of 2006, the “Forest and Nature” adventure world with an information point for the Soonwald-Nahe Nature Park was opened at Wartenstein Castle.
The castle today
The diverse landscape of the region is presented and explained in the adventure world “Forest and Nature”.
The Niederwald theme is housed in the former stables and the cavalier's house. The management of the coppice forest for the extraction of the Lohrinde is conveyed. Endangered animal species such as the hazel grouse or the wild cat are presented in three coppice dioramas . These animals, but also many characteristic plants, are intended to convey how a once intensively used landscape could create diverse habitats for animals and plants by human hands.
In the vaulted cellar, large illustrations in combination with rocks and fossils show an impression of the region's prehistoric treasure trove.
The last resident of the castle, the forester Karl von Pidoll, served as castle and forest administrator for the Lords of Warsberg for many decades. In a forester's room specially set up for him, stories and anecdotes remind of the life and work of the Lützelsoon original.
Events
Every year in May, the "Lohmacher Fest" takes place at Wartenstein Castle. The festival focuses on tanning - the peeling of the tannin-rich oak bark to extract the tannery - and is demonstrated on the castle's nature trail.
The castle festival takes place on the second weekend in September.
literature
- Alexander Thon, Stefan Ulrich and Achim Wendt: Castles in the Hunsrück and on the Nahe. "... where a mighty tower still looks down defiantly. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-7954-2493-0 , pp. 156–159.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Statistical maps, VG Kirn-Land, 2009
- ↑ http://schlosswartenstein.de/index.html
- ↑ Adventure world "Forest and Nature" at Wartenstein Castle ( Memento from July 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
Coordinates: 49 ° 48 ′ 9.7 " N , 7 ° 25 ′ 48.3" E